CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2020) The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Iraq has topped 5,000, with 287 new cases of infection registered over the past 24 hours, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement.
"The Health Ministry's laboratories registered 287 cases of infection today," the ministry said on its Facebook page.
The overall number of confirmed cases rose to 5,135, including 175 deaths and 2,904 recoveries.
The virus is spreading most rapidly in Baghdad, where over the past day, 257 new cases have been confirmed; isolated cases of infection have been recorded in another 12 provinces.
The Iraqi Health Ministry announced on May 18 the isolation regime in six districts of Baghdad for two weeks, as well as the start of a large-scale operation to identify new clusters of COVID-19 in connection with an increase in the spread of the coronavirus in the capital.
The country has imposed curfew, most mosques and churches remain closed, as well as entertainment venues, mass gatherings of citizens are prohibited, and restaurants operate in delivery mode.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on March 11. According to the global health body, the coronavirus death toll worldwide has surpassed 349,000 people, with the number of cases worldwide exceeding 5,488,000.
