Iraq, Saudi Arabia Expect New Coronavirus Wave

Date: 16 September 2020 - 21:49

News ID: ۸۲۸۶۹

BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – The total number of COVID-19 infections in Iraq on Wednesday reached 303,059, as health ministry’s officials warned that the upcoming two months will be crucial to the spread of the pandemic.
Abdul Ghani al-Saadi, head of the ministry’s al-Risafa Health Department in eastern Baghdad, told the official al-Sabah newspaper that "the epidemiological situation is still unstable in Iraq and the danger lies within the next two months.”
Al-Saadi highlighted the importance of "preparing for a new wave of the pandemic due to climate fluctuations that are likely to lead to an increase in infections.”
The ministry’s spokesman Sayf al-Badr said in a press release that most the COVID-19 death cases were those who were too late to be hospitalized.
"All the protocols for treating coronavirus are available in Iraq and the ministry is prepared for all possibilities and has increased the number of hospital beds to about 8,000,” al-Badr said.
He said that the ministry is expecting another wave of infections in the upcoming winter.
Saudi Arabia is in a similar situation as the country’s health ministry registered 31 new deaths and 621 fresh infections on Wednesday, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to 327,551, including 4,369 deaths and 306,004 recoveries.
The pandemic has killed more than 936,000 people worldwide, with over 29.61 million confirmed cases, according to figures compiled by the U.S.’ Johns Hopkins University.
The number of recoveries from the pandemic across the globe surpassed 20.11 million.