The Iraqi health ministry on Friday warned of the possibility of new COVID-19 spread in the country, calling on the public to follow health measures and receive vaccines, official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

"The problem of the coronavirus pandemic is still present, ... There is a possibility that new variants will appear," Sayf al-Badr, the ministry's spokesman, told the INA.

"We are closely monitoring all developments in coordination with the World Health Organization, and there may be a pandemic wave as is happening in countries close to Iraq," al-Badr said.

On Friday, Iraq reported 339 new COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide caseload to 2,331,487, and one more fatality, bringing the death toll from the virus to 25,226. The total recoveries in Iraq grew by 177 to 2,303,954.

A total of 12,037 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the past 24 hours across Iraq, bringing the total number of doses administered to 10,785,973, according to the health ministry.

The Chinese government has sent several batches of medical aid to Iraq and donated four shipments of Sinopharm vaccines to help fight the pandemic.