Iraq reports eight new coronavirus cases

CCAIRO: Iraq reported eight new coronavirus cases, 5 in Baghdad, 2 in Sulaimaniya and one case in Karbala, state news agency reported quoting health ministry.

Iraq also announced further measures to contain the novel coronavirus, after representatives of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric took the rare step of not delivering his weekly sermon to worshippers.

The Iraqi government’s crisis unit said shopping centres will only open three hours a day, schools and universities will be closed until March 21, and public administrations will only open for a few hours a day, effective immediately.

Foreign nationals arriving from France and Spain will be denied entry.

Iraq has reported four coronavirus deaths and 38 infections.

Authorities had already closed the borders with neighbouring Iran, which has seen the world’s second-deadliest outbreak, and banned the entry of foreign nationals travelling from there and other badly affected countries.

Schools, universities, cinemas and other public spaces had been closed for the past week, but restaurants, malls and cafes have remained open.

On Friday, representatives who usually read Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s address at a packed mosque, broadcast live on state television, did not appear.

The 89-year-old Sistani is based in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Karbala, and never appears in public.

An official at the site in the holy city of Karbala said that “the cancellation of Friday prayers at the Imam Hussein shrine is a first since 2003,” the year an American-led invasion toppled veteran dictator Saddam Hussein.

Sources close to Sistani’s office confirmed the unprecedented nature of the decision.

Authorities are particularly worried about coronavirus spreading via Shiite holy sites, which attract millions of pilgrims including many from Iran.

But on Friday numerous pilgrims flocked to the area near the Karbala mausoleum, and a road linking two shrines in the city was still open to pilgrims, AFP journalists said.