Iraq recorded today 5,663 new cases of Covid-19, a historic record in the country that welcomed Pope Francis two weeks ago, with crowds around him being small but still flocking together barely wearing masks.
Despite the increase in a country of 40 million people, where there is a shortage of medicines, doctors and hospitals for decades, the authorities announced again on Tuesday an easing of the ban on movement that was imposed a few weeks ago.
As reported by ANA-MPA, in addition to the lack of medical facilities to receive patients – who generally prefer to have ambulatory oxygen in their homes rather than in crumbling hospitals – Iraq received a total of 50,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopha vaccine on the eve of the Pope’s arrival.
From the 5th to the 8th of March 2021, on his first visit to Iraq, Pope Francis visited several parts of the country and was praying among hundreds of worshipers gathered around him in a stadium full of thousands of people in the city of Erbil.
As in everyday life, few Iraqis were wearing face masks and, despite the recent imposition of fines on people who did not wear masks, things have not changed at all.
