BAGHDAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Health said Thursday that Iraq is still in danger despite the recent decrease in daily COVID-19 infections.

"The past few days witnessed a relative decrease in COVID-19 infections, but this does not mean that the pandemic has been contained," the ministry's spokesman Sayf al-Badr told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).

"The threat of the pandemic still exists, and the neighboring countries and the world are still suffering as well," al-Badr said, adding that the emergence of the new double mutant variant firstly identified in India poses a new challenge.

Al-Badr stressed the importance of citizens' compliance to the health-protective measures, including social distancing and receiving vaccines available in the country.

Al-Badr's comments came as the ministry reported between 4,500 and 6,000 daily COVID-19 infections during the past days, down from 7,000 to over 8,000 in the previous days.

The health ministry reported on Thursday 6,233 new cases, raising the total infections to 1,098,187.

It also reported 33 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 15,673, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 7,093 to 986,134.

A total of 9,565,625 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 40,987 done during the day.

Iraq has been pushing forward its vaccination drive after its drug authority approved the emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccines and other COVID-19 vaccines. Enditem

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