A health ministry official and a senior political official declared that Iraq has thousands of confirmed COVID-19 cases, many times more than the 772 it is has publicly reported, according to three doctors closely involved in the testing process.
Iraqi authorities have instructed medical staff not to speak to media.
The ministry said in its latest daily statement on Thursday that the total recorded confirmed cases for Iraq were 772, with 54 deaths. But the doctors, who work in pharmaceutical teams helping test suspected COVID-19 cases in Baghdad, said that confirmed cases of the disease were between about 3,000 and 9,000.
The health ministry official said that there were more than 2,000 confirmed cases from eastern Baghdad alone, not counting the number in other areas or provinces.
The political official, who has attended meetings with the health ministry, also said thousands of cases were confirmed.
The new Coronavirus has hit Iraq’s neighbor Iran worse than any country in the region. Iraq has close trade and religious ties with Iran and a large border, which Iraq shut in February over fears of the spread of the infection.
Iraq’s healthcare system, among other infrastructure, has been stretched by decades of sanctions, war and neglect, one among several problems that spurred mass anti-government protests in recent months.
