BAGHDAD, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 infections in Iraq on Saturday reached 201,050, as the Iraqi Health Ministry reported 3,965 new cases.
It also reported 70 fatalities during the day, raising the death toll to 6,353, while 2,947 more patients recovered in the day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 143,393.
The new cases were recorded after 20,459 testing kits were used across the country during the day, and a total of 1,413,947 tests have been carried out since the outbreak of the disease, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, Ghaiyb al-Omairi, a member of the parliamentary health committee, said in a press release that the infections with coronavirus could climb to 10,000 per day if the non-compliance with the health restrictions continued.
"Reaching 10,000 daily infections is something possible, but applying the health restrictions and abiding by the instructions of the World Health Organization and the Health Ministry would reduce the number of infections," al-Omairi said.
"The pressure on the health institutions may increase if the number of infections increases and the health situation may get out of control," he said.
Al-Omairi criticized the previous restrictive measures saying that the full and partial curfew in the past months were focusing on blocking roads, which the gatherings continued within the neighborhoods and the social distancing was weak.
Iraq has been taking a series of measures to contain the pandemic since February when the first coronavirus case appeared in the country.
China has been helping Iraq fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
From March 7 to April 26, a Chinese team of seven medical experts spent 50 days in Iraq to help contain the disease, during which they helped build a PCR lab and install an advanced CT scanner in Iraq's capital Baghdad.
Since March 7, China has also sent three batches of medical aid to Iraq. Enditem
