Baghdad, Jul 31 (IANS): The Iraqi Ministry of Health warned of the seriousness of the current Covid-19 situation that may trigger a fourth wave of the pandemic.

Ruba Falah, a member of the Ministry's media office, said in a statement that the continued detection of over 10,000 daily Covid-19 cases in recent days is "a clear evidence of the ferocity and rapid spread of this third wave, along with the detection of some cases infected with the Delta variant that has also severely infected young people", Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday

"If the non-compliance with health-protective measures and negligence in taking the vaccine continues, new and more severe mutations may emerge on the virus, which may enter the country in a fourth wave of the pandemic," Falah said.

Her comments came the country's overall infection tally spiked to 1,616,384, while the death toll stood at 18,595.

A total of 13,033,819 tests have been carried out in Iraq since the outbreak of the disease last year, according to the Health Ministry.

The Ministry also said the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered till date was 1,699,834.

On June 26, the Ministry had announced that Iraq had entered the third wave of the pandemic, warning that the new outbreak would be more severe and dangerous than the previous ones.