ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will lift the newly-established COVID-19 lockdown four days early, following protests by locals across parts of the Region, desperate to reopen their businesses after months of closures.

The Erbil coronavirus crisis cell revealed to Rudaw Tuesday evening, just a day after the latest lockdown began, that movement within all provinces of the Kurdistan Region will be lifted at 6 pm on Wednesday.

All public and private spaces, including hotels, restaurants, gyms, will be permitted to reopen in the two provinces, but under strict health guidelines, including the mandatory use of masks and gloves, according to the governors of Erbil and Sulaimani provinces.

“A full lockdown is still in place between the Kurdistan Region’s provinces, as well as between the Kurdistan Region and other Iraqi provinces,” Firsat Sofi, governor of Erbil province announced at a press conference Tuesday.

Sulaimani province governor, Haval Abubakir, also declared earlier in the day that the provincial lockdown would be lifted on Wednesday at the same time.

Sofi also reported the death of another person with coronavirus in Erbil province on Tuesday, but did not provide further details on the case. The KRG health ministry later announced that it was a 70-year-old man that died in the Erbil suburb of Ankawa.

The KRG's interior ministry imposed a full six-day lockdown on Monday, following the confirmation of over 100 cases of COVID-19 across the Kurdistan Region - the highest single-day total it has ever recorded. According to the decree, all non-emergency travel is prohibited, exempting only media, medical teams, and security forces.

However, the lockdown resulted in protests in Sulaimani districts of Darbandikhan, Ranya and Qaladze on Monday as local business owners demanded the end of coronavirus-related closures just hours after the new lockdown was imposed. Protests continued in the city of Sulaimani on Tuesday.

Ranya Mayor Hiwa Qarani said the protesters are "angry because of the lockdown and closure of their shops and markets."

"Such measures have been taken for their own safety," Qarani said. "We will be dealing with the situation per the health status of people in the region.”

"We are in Raniya. We will neither commit to the lockdown, nor close our shops. Who are you to tell us what to do?" Facebook user Hawre M Azeez wrote on Rudaw Sorani's page on Monday.

On Tuesday, KRG health ministry recorded three COVID-19 related deaths, two in Erbil province and one in Sulaimani province.

So far, the Region has recorded 746 cases of the virus. Of this figure, 434 people have recovered and 10 died after contracting the virus.

Rudaw