Iraq registers dramatic jump in COVID-19 cases
There were 416 new confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus in Iraq today.
Iraq registered more than 400 positive COVID-19 tests today, its highest ever total in a single day.
The Iraqi Health Ministry reported 416 infections today. The number included a whopping 265 in the capital, Baghdad. There were other cases in the south, the Kurdistan Region and throughout the country, according to the ministry.
The figure was the highest ever in a single day in Iraq, according to the Iraqi Kurdish news outlet Rudaw. Dr. Ali al-Bayati, a member of the quasi-governmental Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, also told Al-Monitor the figure is Iraq's highest yet.
The large number of infections is the latest in a series of setbacks for Iraq as it fights the virus. Parts of Iraq first went under a series of lockdowns in March. Nonessential businesses were closed and civilian movement was restricted to acquiring necessities. The lockdown started to ease in April.
