BAGHDAD -- Iraq on Thursday announced a new case of novel coronavirus disease in the country's northern province of Kirkuk, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Iraq to seven.

A statement by the Iraqi Health Ministry said that it has detected a new case of coronavirus for an Iraqi man, 51, who returned earlier to Iraq from neighboring Iran. After being transferred to a hospital, he was tested positive and was kept in quarantine in accordance with the international procedures.

Earlier in the day, a ministry statement announced a case of novel coronavirus for an Iraqi young man in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, who was also returned to Baghdad from neighboring Iran.

Recently, the Iraqi authorities have been taking a series of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus after cases of the disease were confirmed earlier in the provinces of Najaf and Kirkuk.