People go through a sterilization room at Tahrir Square in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 2, 2020. The Iraqi Health Ministry on Monday announced five more cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 26. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

BAGHDAD, March 2  -- The Iraqi Health Ministry on Monday announced five more cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 26.

Three of the five cases were detected in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and one in each province of Maysan and Najaf, the ministry said in a statement without giving further details.

The five people were admitted to temporary quarantine wards in hospitals, where they were tested positive and transferred to the quarantine sites in accordance with the international procedures, the statement added.

The latest five cases bring the number of infected people in Baghdad to 13, while the other 13 cases include five in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, four in Sulaimaniyah, one in Babil, one in Maysan and two in Najaf.

Recently, the Iraqi authorities have been taking a series of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus after cases were confirmed in the country.