ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Passengers arriving in the Kurdistan Region from India will have to quarantine for two weeks, according to new health ministry guidance, as cases of COVID-19 continue to skyrocket in the country.

A statement from the Region’s ministry mandates a two-week quarantine for those coming from India both “directly and indirectly,” as well as two negative COVID-19 tests before they are allowed to go freely into society.

The new measure comes as India recently broke the world record for COVID-19 infections, recording more than 386,000 new cases and 3,500 deaths in just the last 24 hours.

The regional health ministry described an Indian variant of the coronavirus as “very dangerous” and “more contagious,” after its Iraqi counterpart recently issued similar warnings.

Earlier this week Iraq suspended flights to and from India indefinitely.

People entering the Kurdistan Region from India will have to undergo a PCR test upon arrival and take a second test after seven days, the ministry statement said, adding that if the second test doesn’t detect the virus, the individual could quarantine at home for a further week.

Global health experts have expressed concern over the spread of the virus in India which, if not controlled effectively, could lead to new COVID-19 variants. One such variant, dubbed the “double mutant” was first detected in India around October 2020 but is now believed responsible for more than 60 percent of coronavirus infections in Maharashtra state.

Kurdistan Region and federal authorities regularly issue new health measures when the coronavirus fluctuates in a bid to thwart an uncontrollable outbreak.

Iraq, including its autonomous Kurdistan Region has officially recorded more than 1.06 million COVID-19 cases and 15,000 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly