Iraq confirms first death from novel #coronavirus: official

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Iraq on Wednesday said a 70-year-old Muslim cleric died from the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), marking the first death from the outbreak in a country where 31 people have been reportedly infected.

According to Baghdad authorities, the preacher had been quarantined in the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah before his death.

A spokesman for the northern Kurdish autonomous region's health authority also confirmed that death. According to local sources, he had recently met with Iraqis returning from neighbouring Iran, which has recorded the deadliest outbreak outside China, the epidemic's epicentre, after South Korea and Italy

The virus in the Islamic Republic has claimed 77 lives and infected more than 2,300 people.

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