Poverty in Iraq has increased by 10 per cent due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the UN's envoy to the country, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said on Wednesday.
The country has implemented strict measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus since its outbreak but the rate of infected cases are rising on a daily basis.
Iraq has recorded 211,947 cases and said at least 6,596 people have died after contracting the virus.
"Food consumption is insufficient for over three million Iraqis. Over 11 million school and university students across Iraq have seen their studies disrupted and gender-based violence has doubled," Ms Plasschaert said in a briefing to the Security Council.
The rapid spread of the virus has exacerbated economic deprivation and the provision of social services in Iraq.
The UN envoy urged the government to make economic and financial reforms that “are of great importance to ensure that Iraq can build sustainable solutions and domestic resilience.”
“Economic trouble is never far from humanitarian concerns. Iraq is expected to experience a 9.7 percent decline in gross domestic product,” Ms Plasschaert said.
Iraq needs economic diversity to help elevate its suffering and to curb corruption.
"Corruption remains endemic, and its economic cost untold as it continues to steal desperately needed resources from the everyday Iraqi, eroding investor confidence," she said.
The development came as the Deputy Speaker of Iraq's Parliament become the latest official this week to contract Covid-19.
Hassan Al Kaabi said that he "was tested for coronavirus after showing certain symptoms, and as the result was positive, he is currently in quarantine”.
“I ask God almighty to protect Iraq and its people from the dangers of this dreaded epidemic and for those who contracted this virus a speedy recovery,” Mr Al Kaabi said on Facebook.
The country has reported more than 3,000 new cases a day in recent weeks as the spread of the virus has accelerated.
Iraqi politician Ghida Kambash died last month after contracting the virus, she became the first member to succumb to the virus.
The 46-year-old was a three-time MP from Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, and helped pass laws on education reform and social welfare.
The health ministry warned on Tuesday of a second wave that might begin in October while announcing that it is preparing a seasonal flu vaccine that will be made available to all citizens.
"The recent increase in the number of cases is due to two main reasons, the first is the citizens' failure to comply with the ministry’s official health instructions and the second is the increase in number of daily testing,” Abbas Al Husseini, a member of the Covid-19 Crisis Cell, said in a statement to local media.
Mr Al Husseini said that the second wave is expected to start in the middle of next October “which coincides with the spread of autumn flu”.
Since Iraq recorded its first infected case earlier this year, it has taken drastic measures to curb the virus’s spread, including closing schools and restaurants, banning public gatherings and shutting international borders.
The country’s health system, exhausted by years of war and poor investment, has been overwhelmed by the rising numbers.
Protective equipment, respirators and even hospital beds are all running low, forcing authorities to turn expo centers, stadiums and hotels into coronavirus wards and confinement centers.
The World Health Organisation warned last week that cases are "exponentially rising to an alarming and worrying level.”
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
UAE%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3E%0DJemma%20Eley%2C%20Maria%20Michailidou%2C%20Molly%20Fuller%2C%20Chloe%20Andrews%20(of%20Dubai%20College)%2C%20Eliza%20Petricola%2C%20Holly%20Guerin%2C%20Yasmin%20Craig%2C%20Caitlin%20Gowdy%20(Dubai%20English%20Speaking%20College)%2C%20Claire%20Janssen%2C%20Cristiana%20Morall%20(Jumeirah%20English%20Speaking%20School)%2C%20Tessa%20Mies%20(Jebel%20Ali%20School)%2C%20Mila%20Morgan%20(Cranleigh%20Abu%20Dhabi).%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
Welterweight
Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
