Shkoi Kurdistan-
Erbil province has reopened roads to and from other Iraqi provinces for all after months of closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an official statement published early Friday, Erbil province’s operation room announced the lifting of the movement restriction, which grants easy entrance to the province for people.
“Traveling into and out of Erbil province will be open from today onwards,” the statement reads. “Group touristic trips to Erbil will remain prohibited.”
Residents of the Kurdistan Region could previously only move within its provinces through an online application process. Movement between the Kurdistan Region and provinces controlled by federal Iraq was prohibited.
The operation room has also granted mosques the ability to open doors for worshipers on Friday prayers, taking COVID-19 measures into account.
“Funerals and weddings celebrations will remain prohibited in the halls and indoor places,” the statement added.
Restaurants and cafeterias in Erbil province will be allowed to reopen, but need to take a number of additional measures into account as well, according to the statement.
Erbil has seen a total of 9,509 COVID-19 cases, 4,305 of which remain active. As many as 294 people have died in the province after contracting the virus, according to government figures.
Across the Kurdistan Region, a total of 23,204 cases have been confirmed and 849 people have died. Iraq has recorded more than 192,797 infections and 6,208 deaths.
