Iraq records first omicron cases
Five cases were confirmed in Dohuk province and an unknown number of infections were recorded among foreign diplomats in Baghdad.
Iraq has detected its first cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, the health ministries in both the central government and Kurdish region said Thursday.
The Iraqi Ministry of Health said five cases were discovered in the northern province of Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan. An unknown number of foreign diplomats in the capital Baghdad also tested positive, the ministry said.
Saman Barzinji, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s health minister, told reporters that the Dohuk infections were recorded within one household after a family member returned home from abroad. Barzinji said the members of the family were not vaccinated, according to Iraqi Kurdish news outlet Rudaw.
Iraq announced 665 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the country’s total number of infections to more than 2 million since the start of the pandemic. Three more deaths were recorded, raising the death toll to 24,194.
