Iraq reports 3,866 new COVID-19 cases, 758,184 in total
Xinhua
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Traffic and federal police officers man a checkpoint in the Karrada district of Iraq's capital Baghdad on March 14, 2021, as they enforce a total curfew imposed to curb COVID-19 coronavirus cases. File photo: AFP

BAGHDAD, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Sunday 3,866 new COVID-19 cases, bringing Iraq's total nationwide infections to 758,184.

The new cases included 1,021 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 622 in Basra, 470 in Najaf, 267 in Wasit, and 202 in Erbil, while the other cases were detected in other provinces, the ministry said in a statement.

It also reported 32 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,751, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 3,942 to 685,770.

A total of 7,386,457 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 33,405 done during the day.

A separate statement issued by the ministry said that Iraqi Minister of Health Hassan al-Tamimi chaired a meeting with the ministry's senior officials to discuss the epidemiological situation and the latest increase in coronavirus infections in the country.

The meeting also discussed the ministry's efforts to communicate with international companies producing vaccines to meet the country's need for coronavirus vaccines to control the spread of the pandemic, according to the statement.

Iraq has taken a series of measures to curb the recent rise in infections after the health ministry announced on Feb. 15 the detection of a new strain characterized by faster transmission and a higher level of severity.

On March 2, Iraq received a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government to help combat the pandemic.

The Iraqi National Board for Selection of Drugs has approved the emergency use of the Sinopharm vaccines, in addition to AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Sputnik V vaccines.