BAGHDAD, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Health Ministry on Friday said that a total of 1,708 COVID-19 cases were confirmed and 86 deaths were recorded in the country.
The 31 new cases during the past 24 hours were 12 in the capital Baghdad, five in Najaf, three in each Babil and Duhok, two in Muthanna, Karbala and Basra each, and one in each Sulaimaniyah and Salahudin, the ministry said in a statement.
So far, up to 86 have died from the disease while 1,204 recovered, according to the statement.
Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesman of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, said in a separate statement that the number of COVID-19 cases among Iraqis living outside the country has reached 247, of whom 31 have died and 59 recovered.
The Iraqi authorities have taken several measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19, including imposing a nationwide curfew.
The Iraqi authorities decided on April 19 to partially lift the earlier imposed curfew hours from April 21 to May 22, except for Friday and Saturday during the period.
The partial curfew will also cover most of the holy month of Ramadan, which started on April 24, according to the Islamic lunar calendar.
The measures also included continuously preventing internal and external travels as well as the movement between the provinces.
On April 20, a third batch of Chinese medical aid arrived in Baghdad as part of China's assistance to boost Iraq's capability to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
China sent the first batch of medical aid to Iraq on March 7, with a medical team of seven Chinese experts to work with their Iraqi counterparts to fight the coronavirus. The second batch of Chinese aid arrived on April 8. Enditem
