Baghdad,Iraq —Iraq will reimpose partial lockdown measures until early March after detecting a new variant of the coronavirus, including among children, its health minister announced Monday.
“Unfortunately, government labs showed genetic mutations in the Covid-19 strain, detecting the new fast-spreading [variant] in Iraq,” Hassan al-Tamimi told reporters.
He referred to the variant as the one “which spread in the UK,” and said it had been detected in some Iraqi children but did not give a total number of people who had been diagnosed with the new variant.
It emerged in southern England in December and is thought to be more contagious than earlier forms.
Iraq has been among …
Keep on reading: Iraq detects UK Covid-19 variant, reimposes partial lockdown