SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has ordered the evacuation of Iraqi patients stranded in India, an Iraqi diplomat said on Thursday.
Iraqi Ambassador to India Falah al-Saadi told state news agency INA that there were around one thousand Iraqis who want to return to Iraq.
“The first flight will start tomorrow or the day after,” Saadi said.
“We do not have specific information about Iraqis infected with the Indian strain, but we have recorded six deaths,” he added.
Kadhimi’s decision came after Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority suspended all flights to and from India until further notice.
Iraqi parliament’s crisis cell also called for strict measures to be taken by the federal government as the Indian variant of the virus is “very close” to entering Iraq.
