ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region is easing curfew restrictions in Erbil and Sulaimani, as new cases of the coronavirus decrease, and the number of those who have recovered from the disease increases, leaving around 50 people still being treated in local hospitals.

According to the Ministry of Health, during the past 24 hours, the Kurdistan Region has not recorded any new cases of coronavirus in its four provinces: Erbil, Sulaimani, Duhok and Halabja. This marked the fourth time in a week that the ministry has made such an announcement.

Some 280 patients have recovered from the coronavirus, and all of them have returned to their homes. A total of 337 individuals contracted the disease, a figure that includes four people who died from it.

Following the decrease in COVID-19 cases, authorities have begun to ease restrictions imposed during the lockdown. In the city of Sulaimani, authorities have gradually restored the functioning of local markets and the ability of residents there to resume earning their livelihoods. In Erbil, the directorate of traffic police has turned the traffic lights back on, after they had been shut down for over a month, while it also removed a number of the concrete blocks that it had placed on main streets.

Already in early March, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) began to enforce a strict policy of social distancing. It temporarily suspended all religious services, while it ordered the closure of restaurants, coffee shops, and other entertainment and sports venues.

Early and decisive action has proven a key factor in successfully combatting the disease, and the KRG was one of the comparatively few governments in the world, along with South Korea and Germany, to take such action.

As the World Health Organization (WHO’s) representative in Iraq told local media a month ago, "All the measures taken in the Kurdistan Region are correct and are in line with the instructions of the World Health Organization, and the International Health Regulations.”

The KRG’s initial steps to combat the virus were followed by the imposition of a strict curfew two weeks later, which was extended and expanded multiple times. As recently as last Thursday, the KRG announced an extension of the region-wide curfew for another week—until April 23—although with some relaxed measures.

The decision to ease the curfew comes as the number of people confirmed to have the coronavirus continues to decline.

Erbil’s Soran district announced on Monday that it was free of coronavirus, after the full recovery of all its confirmed cases. That announcement was followed by a similar statement from the Rapareen Administrative Unit within Sulaimani province that all those infected with COVID-19 had recovered and returned to their homes.

“Erbil’s operation room for combating the coronavirus decided to open both the eastern and western industrial zone on Tuesday,” Hemn Qader, Erbil’s deputy governor, told Kurdistan 24.

“Through several phases, we will gradually ease the restrictions of the curfew imposed on the citizens of Erbil,” he continued. “The High Committee for Combating the Coronavirus will meet tomorrow and discuss several other aspects of the relaxation of those restrictions in line with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.”

“However,” Qader stressed, “citizens will still need to follow the health instructions, as the virus still poses a threat.”

According to the latest update from the Kurdistan Region’s Health Ministry, there are still 53 active cases across the region, and they are receiving medical treatment.