Iraqi employees use protective face masks following the coronavirus break out, as they stitching masks at a textile factory in Babylon, Iraq February 27,2020 REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq reported the very first case of coronavirus in the capital Baghdad on Thursday, its 6th in total.
A man contracted the virus after a journey to Iran, the health ministry said in a statement. He was in “good health” in a Baghdad medical facility, it added.
Iraq on Wednesday prohibited public events and disallowed entry by travelers from Kuwait and Bahrain since of the spread of the new coronavirus, forbiding travel to or from an overall of 9 countries.
Iraq is concerned about the spread of the coronavirus from surrounding Iran, among the worst-hit nations outside China where the infection originated late last year.
Iraq has cultural and religious ties with Iran and each year gets millions of Iranian pilgrims.
An Iraqi family of 4 who returned from Iran evaluated positive for the coronavirus in Kirkuk province on Tuesday. They were the very first Iraqis known to have captured the illness, a day after an Iranian trainee in Najaf became Iraq’s very first verified case. He was later on transferred to Iran.
Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Composing by John Davison; Editing by Kim Coghill and Stephen Coates
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