The Cabinet held its weekly meeting on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

The Cabinet session included a review of the Ministry of Health’s report regarding the Corona pandemic and the developments of the work of the Committee to Strengthen Government Actions in the areas of health prevention and control, and the efforts of the Ministry of Health to provide vaccines and urge citizens to take them. The following recommendations have been adopted:

First : Allowing the resumption of work in blended education for the remainder of the current school year for medical, health, engineering and scientific disciplines for study subjects that require practical, applied or clinical training, as well as allowing attendance for graduate students in the classrooms three days a week, provided that:

• All students and workers in educational institutions bring a negative result of a Covid 19 disease test (PCR) weekly, or a vaccination card proving that they have been vaccinated with one of the Covid 19 vaccines.

•  Taking all preventive measures in institutions, colleges and universities, including:

1- All employees must wear masks.

2- Checking the temperature of the students upon entering

3- Commitment to the rules of physical distance between people, preferably  (1.5-2) meters.

4- Avoid hugging, kissing or shaking hands when greeting by all people.

5-Leaving windows and doors open inside the halls.

Second: Postponing the entry of tourist groups to Iraq in all its forms, to avoid the entry of new covid breeds into Iraq.

Third : Excluding diplomatic missions, official delegations, experts, technicians, and workers in service projects, who are vaccinated with two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine arriving in Iraq (except for arrivals from India) from the compulsory quarantine. It is sufficient for them to bring  a negative (PCR) examination within 72 hours before their entry into Iraq.

Fourth : Emphasizing on the Supreme Judicial Council to hold accountable anyone who tries to spread misconceptions regarding everything related to Covid-19 disease.

Fifth: Instructing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide the Ministry of Health with the situation of all countries regarding the process of vaccinating Iraqis residing abroad (including diplomatic missions).

The Council of Ministers also discussed a number of other topics on its agenda, and took the following decisions:

• The working hours of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs employees is 100%, according to the necessities of work in the Ministry, provided the employee is committed to taking the vaccine

• Sending an invitation in a single bid manner to the French company Total to invest in generating solar electric power with a capacity of (1000) megawatts.

• Approval of the request of the Ministry of Electricity to contract in a single bidding manner for the Chinese company (Power China).

• The Ministry of Finance allocates an additional amount of five hundred billion dinars to support the ration card allocations and improve its vocabulary and provide it throughout the year.