A cleaner wearing a mask disinfects a toilet in Ankara, Turkey on Feb. 26, 2021. Turkey announced 9,572 new COVID-19 cases, including 658 symptomatic patients, and 73 more deaths from the disease, pushing its tally of infections to 2,674,766 and its death toll to 28,358. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
CAIRO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in Iran surpassed 1.6 million on Thursday after 8,206 new infections were confirmed. Meanwhile, Iraq issued new restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said the total number of COVID-19 cases in Iran surged to 1,607,081, while its death toll climbed by 94 to 59,830.
The Iranian police announced on Thursday a travel ban on four provinces and seven cities to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The four provinces include the Khuzestan Province bordering Iraq, and the northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan, as well as Teymour Hosseini.
The Iranian authorities have also banned travels to the tourist cities of Mashhad, Shiraz, Isfahan, Bushehr, Bandar Abbas, Kish, and Qeshm to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Also on Thursday, Iranian health officials started vaccinating elderly people, war veterans and nursing home workers against COVID-19.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, also head of the Higher Committee for Health and National Safety, ordered several new measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The new instructions included preventing people's movement between provinces except for humanitarian reasons, and banning gatherings and maintaining social distancing.
Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Thursday 4,074 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 684,362.
The ministry also reported 27 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,351. The total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 2,271 to 627,718.
Sayf al-Badr, spokesman of the ministry, said that "there is a special plane that will fly in the upcoming Saturday to transport the vaccines, and new batches will arrive after that in succession."
The Iraqi National Board for Selection of Drugs has approved the emergency use of China's Sinopharm and Britain's AstraZeneca vaccines.
Turkey announced 9,572 new COVID-19 cases, including 658 symptomatic patients, and 73 more deaths from the disease, pushing its tally of infections to 2,674,766 and its death toll to 28,358.
A total of 6.65 million people in Turkey have so far received the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, including 1.44 million who have received two shots, according to the Turkish Health Ministry.
Israeli Ministry of Health reported 4,725 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, raising the tally in the country to 767,233.
The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 5,685 after 36 new fatalities were added, while the total recoveries rose by 6,421 to 721,957.
Israel entered on Thursday night a three-day night curfew in a bid to prevent the traditional mass celebrations during the Jewish holiday of Purim and stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Morocco announced 386 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally in the North African country to 482,514.
The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 467,541 after 726 more were added, while the death toll rose by six to 8,598.
Jordan recorded 3,827 new COVID-19 cases and 16 new deaths, taking its tally of infections to 380,268 and its death toll to 4,627. The total recoveries in the kingdom climbed by 1,579 to 342,600.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) confirmed 3,025 new coronavirus infections and 18 more deaths, pushing its tally of COVID-19 cases to 381,662 and its death toll to 1,182. The total recoveries in the UAE climbed by 4,678 to 375,059.
In Lebanon, the health ministry reported 3,469 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 366,302.
Lebanon's COVID-19 death toll went up by 52 to 4,560, while the total recoveries rose by 3,453 to 281,194, according to the ministry.
Lebanese caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan vowed on Thursday to request 300,000 more vaccines from AstraZeneca to vaccinate Palestinian refugees. Lebanon aims to vaccinate 80 percent of its population.
In Syria, Health Minister Hasan Ghabbash said on Thursday that Syria will start giving COVID-19 vaccines to its medical staff from next week.
At a press conference, the minister said Syria had obtained the vaccines from a "friendly country," without naming it. The next stage will be vaccinating the people aged over 55, mainly those with chronic diseases.
On Wednesday, Syria reported a total of 15,343 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 9,468 recoveries and 1,008 deaths.
In Libya, the National Center for Disease Control of Libya on Thursday said that 23 positive cases of COVID-19 variant were recorded in the country.
The total confirmed COVID-19 cases in Libya stood at 131,833, including 118,791 recoveries and 2,156 deaths, the center said in a statement.
The Qatari health ministry on Thursday announced 465 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 162,268.
Qatar's total recoveries rose by 540 to 152,327, while the fatalities remained unchanged at 257 for the fourth day running.
The Omani health ministry confirmed 288 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 140,588.
The tally of recoveries in Oman increased by 299 to 131,684, while its death toll climbed by four to 1,562, according to a ministry statement.
