Erbil governor dies of coronavirus; his 'legacy of service will endure,' PM Barzani says
Local and foreign offices praised the late governor and called his death a great loss for the KRG.
The governor of Iraq's Erbil province died from the coronavirus early Wednesday in Ankara, Turkey, at the age of 42.
Firsat Sofi was elected in September 2019 in the province's first election of a new governor in 15 years. He represented the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the regional parliament from 2013 to 2017 and was a member of the 2015 committee that drafted the Kurdistan Region’s constitution.
The governor contracted the virus in late October and as his condition worsened, he was flown to Turkey’s capital on Nov. 2 for treatment.
Erbil recorded 156 new cases of the virus and nine deaths Tuesday. That brings the total confirmed cases in the region to over 90,000 and nearly 3,000 deaths. Iraq is the second worst-hit country in the region behind only Iran with a total of 526,852 recorded COVID-19 cases and 11,795 deaths, according to Worldometer.
