BAGHDAD

Iraq on Saturday confirmed 53 fatalities from the novel coronavirus pandemic, bringing the death toll to 549, which is the highest daily fatalities in the country since February.

The Health Ministry said 1,180 more cases have been recorded, taking the total infections to 18,950, while the number of recoveries reached 7,515.

Also, the ministry announced that a new curfew will be imposed from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. (1500-0200GMT) for a week starting from Sunday.

In May, the Iraqi government reimposed a nationwide curfew to be valid until June 14 due to the recent spike in the infection rate.

Iraq imposed a curfew for the first time on March 17, before easing its restrictions on April 21, when it permitted the population to roam around during daylight hours, except for nationwide curfews on Fridays and Saturdays.

The pandemic has claimed more than 427,400 lives in 188 countries and regions since originating in China last December. The US, Brazil and Russia are currently the worst-hit countries.

Over 7.7 million cases have been reported worldwide, while more than 3.66 million people have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.