In some neighborhoods, the police are enforcing $80 fines for anyone who tries to sell goods on the sidewalk — far more than most of them could make in a day.

How long such tremendous economic pain can be borne is hard to say, but it is especially difficult in the absence of political leadership, Iraqis said.

Iraq was already facing its worst political crisis in years before the virus hit and oil prices dropped. Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets since October, demanding a new government, an end to corruption and a curb on Iranian influence.

While the numbers had dwindled with the colder and wetter winter weather, curfew has not been rigorously enforced at the protest sites and a few hundred protesters remain in the major squares in Baghdad and other cities. As they continue to keep pressure on the government, they also now pose a potential health risk for spreading the virus.

“This crisis is more difficult because, to be honest, we do not have a government,” said Hassan Ali, 20, who was making a pilgrimage to a Shiite shrine in Baghdad despite being urged to stay home, a warning he discounted because he has no faith in the government’s advice.

“The government is very weak, it’s very tired, they have no solution for the crises, no solution for the youth who have no jobs. With corona it is very difficult because no one can rely on the government.”

In many ways he is right. In mid-March, the health minister, Mr. Allawi, said he would need $150 million a month to purchase the equipment he needs to fight the virus. The donor fund has only collected a fraction of what the ministry believes will be required to protect health care workers, house and treat patients.