Iraq decided to impose 14-day quarantine on those evacuated from India to ensure that they are not infected with the new double mutant COVID-19 variant identified in the South Asian country, official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported Saturday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
Ryadh Abdul-Amir, head of the Public Health Department in the Iraqi Health Ministry, told INA that the first batch of evacuees would be quarantined in a hotel in eastern Baghdad and tested and monitored by medical teams for 14 days before leaving.
He said the health ministry registered 82 COVID-19 cases among the first evacuees from India, all of whom did not show symptoms.
The quarantine comes as the Iraqi authorities are evacuating hundreds of Iraqi citizens stranded in India after Iraqi Airways announced on April 27 that it had cancelled all direct flights to India.
The Iraqi authorities confirmed that more emergency evacuation flights would be arranged by Iraqi Airways for the rest of the stranded citizens.
Meanwhile, a statement by the ministry reported 4,608 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, raising the total nationwide number to 1,108,558.