In the highest tally in an Arab country, the total recorded cases of COVID-19 in Iraq have exceeded one million, according to confirmation from the Ministry of Health on Wednesday. Iraqis are suffering from a decline in health and medical services, leading many to use oxygen tanks at home instead of going to dilapidated hospitals.
On Wednesday, Iraq surpassed the one million COVID-19 case mark, the highest figure in the Arab world for a country with a population of 40 million that has been struggling for decades with shortages of medications, medical staff, and hospitals. With 8,696 new infections and 38 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health, the total number of Iraqis infected with COVID-19 since February of last year has reached 1,001,854 cases, including 15,098 deaths.
The Iraqi Ministry of Health indicated that it conducts 40,000 tests daily, a modest number for a country with many cities having populations exceeding two million and high population density. Iraq is facing a shortage of medical equipment for caring for infected individuals, many of whom prefer using oxygen tanks at home instead of going to the crumbling hospitals. Nevertheless, it has successfully launched a vaccination campaign against COVID-19. Baghdad has received about 650,000 doses of various vaccines, mostly through the international COVAX mechanism aimed at equitable vaccine distribution.
As of Wednesday, 274,343 Iraqis have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the Ministry of Health, which is conducting an awareness campaign to persuade the population to get vaccinated amid widespread skepticism and reluctance to wear masks.
