Iraq past the peak of COVID-19’s third wave, concerns about a fourth

The third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic is abating steadily in Iraq with both case and death tolls declining, member of the Ministry of Health’s media team Roba Falah Hasan said on Saturday, warning that complacency toward the preventive measures might plunge the country into a third wave.

“The drop of case count we registered today does not mean relaxing the restrictions and not taking the vaccine,” Hasan told Alghadeer News, “it only means that we are past the peak.”

“This might put us at the risk of entering a more hard and perilous fourth wave similar to the countries that were ravaged by brutal waves after easing the restrictions,” she continued, “we cannot confirm that the pandemic is over before attaining herd immunity.”

On Saturday, the daily count of COVID-19 cases was below the threshold of 4,000 cases a day for the first time in months.

The daily epidemiological report on the pandemic situation issued by the Ministry of Health said that Iraq logged 3,958 cases and 85 mortalities, with 7,651 patients achieving recovery.