The country's healthcare system is ill prepared for another surge, but government, health, and oil sector officials are hoping new variant's milder symptoms will soften the impact.
After more than a month, the border has reopened for both trade and humanitarian traffic, alleviating economic pressure on a U.S. ally in the counter-IS fight.
Sinopec has agreed to commercial terms for developing the Diyala province gas field, but Iraq's current caretaker government is not signing a binding contract.
The temporary outage had no apparent impact on oil field operations or export volumes, but the cause of the incident is a matter of uncertainty and potential concern.