Iraq on Saturday announced five new cases of COVID-19 in the capital Baghdad and Babil province, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 13.

A statement by the Iraqi Health Ministry confirmed five new coronavirus cases, four in the city of Baghdad and one in Babil province.

The five were admitted to hospitals and tested positive and transferred to the quarantine sites in accordance with the international procedures, the statement said.

The latest five cases brought the number of infected people in Baghdad to six, while the other seven cases are five in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, one in Najaf and one in Babil.

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.