Baghdad, Jan 13 (IANS): Iraqi authorities have decided to ramp up health restrictions on arriving travellers and all domestic institutions amid the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant globally.

The Higher Committee for Health and National Safety decided that all Iraqi and foreign travellers who enter the country must present a Covid-19 vaccination card to prove the holder has been fully vaccinated, and a negative nucleic acid test result conducted within 72 hours, said a statement by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's media office.

All Iraqi governmental and non-governmental institutions should follow up their employees' vaccination process and prevent any citizen who comes without a vaccination card to enter their facilities, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

The decision was made during a committee meeting chaired by al-Kadhimi on the country's epidemiological situation in light of a global case surge with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Iraq reported its first cases of Omicron variant on January 6.

The country has so far registered 2,102,555 cases and 24,225 deaths so far, according to the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, 8,770,184 people have been vaccinated.