BAGHDAD: For Saad Malik, losing his father to the novel coronavirus was only the beginning of his nightmare. For over a week, cemeteries across Iraq refused to allow the elderly man’s burial.
Fearing the respiratory illness could somehow spread from the corpses to nearby population centers, Iraqi religious authorities, tribes and townspeople have sent the bodies of COVID-19 victims back to hospital morgues, where they are piling up.
“We couldn’t hold a funeral for him and haven’t been able to bury his body, even though it’s been more than a week since he died,” Malik said, his voice laced with bitterness.
Armed men claiming to be tribal leaders threatened Malik, his family and his friends, saying they would set fire to his car if they tried to bury the body in their area.
“Can you imagine that across this huge country Iraq, there aren’t a few square meters to bury a small number of bodies?”
In Islam, a person must be buried as soon as possible after death, usually within 24 hours. Cremation is strictly prohibited.
Iraq has confirmed more than 500 COVID-19 cases and 42 deaths from the respiratory disease, but the real numbers are likely much higher as few of the country’s 40 million people have been tested.
Authorities have declared a countrywide lockdown until April 11, urging citizens to stay at home and adopt rigorous hygiene routines to forestall the spread of the virus.
But in some areas, local powers are getting even stricter.
Northeast of the capital Baghdad this week, tribal figures prevented a team of health ministry officials from burying four bodies in a cemetery the state had specifically designated for COVID-19 victims.
When the delegation tried to take the bodies to another burial ground southeast of Baghdad, dozens of local townspeople turned out in protest.
Ultimately, the bodies were returned to the morgue.
One Iraqi living near Baghdad said “we decided to block any burials in our area.”
“We panicked over (the health of) our children and families.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is leading the global response to the pandemic, coronavirus is transmitted through droplets and surface contact.
There is no scientific evidence yet that it could spread via corpses, according to Iraqi health ministry spokesman Seif Al-Badr.
He said the government was taking all possible precautions when burying bodies, including wrapping them in bags, disinfecting them and placing them in special coffins.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country’s top Shiite cleric, has said those who lost their lives to the disease must be wrapped in three shrouds and insisted authorities facilitate burials.
But rejections of burials have continued, including in the two shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf, where one of the world’s largest cemeteries is located.
An Iraqi medic in Najaf said the health ministry had tried to intervene directly to convince Najaf authorities to allow burials of COVID-19 victims, to no avail.
The medic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had witnessed one widower beg authorities to release his wife’s body.
“Just give me the body and I’ll bury her in my own home,” the heartbroken husband had said.
“This is the situation after just 40 deaths. What happens if it gets worse? Where will we put the bodies?” the medic asked.
Many in Iraq have been bracing themselves for a rise in cases in the weeks ahead, but the country’s hospitals are ill-prepared to deal with large numbers.
They have been ravaged by decades of conflict and have received little investment in recent years, leaving them woefully bereft of medicine and equipment.
Doctors, too, have been threatened, kidnapped and even killed in recent years over ransoms or under pressure from relatives of patients.
According to the WHO, there are only 14 hospital beds in Iraq for every 10,000 people.
By way of comparison, France — currently overwhelmed by the spreading virus — has 60 beds for every 10,000 people.
To try to fill the gap, Iraqis are stepping up with inventions of their own.
Medical engineer Moqtada Al-Zubaidi has created a hospital bed encased in plexiglass, which includes a respirator with oxygen tanks, an air conditioning unit, a bell to ring nurses and a flat-screen television.
“It’s an invention with humanitarian purposes. We proposed the name ‘the bed of life’ because it provides security and reassurance to people who are sick,” he said.
Zubaidi is awaiting approval from the health ministry to produce more beds, which cost $4,000 each.
But for many fellow Iraqis disheartened by the rising death toll, such measures may be too little, too late.
Salem Al-Shummary, Malik’s cousin, had tried to help Malik bury his father and was left scarred by the experience.
“We’re not fazed by death anymore. We just have one dream: to bury our dead,” he said.
In Iraq, no resting place for coronavirus dead
https://arab.news/5t25s
In Iraq, no resting place for coronavirus dead
- In Islam, a person must be buried as soon as possible after death, usually within 24 hours
- Rejections of burials have continued, including in the two shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf
Egypt’s middle class cuts costs as IMF-backed reforms take hold
- The world lender has long backed measures in Egypt including a liberal currency exchange market and weaning the public away from subsidies
Cairo: Egypt’s economy has been in crisis for years, but as the latest round of International Monetary Fund-backed reforms bites, much of the country’s middle class has found itself struggling to afford goods once considered basics.
The world lender has long backed measures in Egypt including a liberal currency exchange market and weaning the public away from subsidies.
On the ground, that has translated into an eroding middle class with depleted purchasing power, turning into luxuries what were once considered necessities.
Nourhan Khaled, a 27-year-old private sector employee, has given up “perfumes and chocolates.”
“All my salary goes to transport and food,” she said as she perused items at a west Cairo supermarket, deciding what could stay and what needed to go.
For some, this has extended to cutting back on even the most basic goods — such as milk.
“We do not buy sweets anymore and we’ve cut down on milk,” said Zeinab Gamal, a 28-year-old housewife.
Most recently, Egypt hiked fuel prices by 17.5 percent last month, marking the third increase just this year.
Mounting pressures
The measures are among the conditions for an $8 billion IMF loan program, expanded this year from an initial $3 billion to address a severe economic crisis in the North African country.
“The lifestyle I grew up with has completely changed,” said Manar, a 38-year-old mother of two, who did not wish to give her full name.
She has taken on a part-time teaching job to increase her family’s income to 15,000 Egyptian pounds ($304), just so she can “afford luxuries like sports activities for their children.”
Her family has even trimmed their budget for meat, reducing their consumption from four times to “only two times per week.”
Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, is facing one of its worst economic crises ever.
Foreign debt quadrupled since 2015 to register $160.6 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Much of the debt is the result of financing for large-scale projects, including a new capital east of Cairo.
The war in Gaza has also worsened the country’s economic situation.
Repeated attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza have resulted in Egypt’s vital Suez Canal — a key source of foreign currency — losing over 70 percent of its revenue this year.
Amid growing public frustration, officials have recently signalled a potential re-evaluation of the IMF program.
“If these challenges will make us put unbearable pressure on public opinion, then the situation must be reviewed with the IMF,” President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said last month.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly also ruled out any new financial burdens on Egyptians “in the coming period,” without specifying a timeframe.
Economists, however, say the reforms are already taking a toll.
Wael Gamal, director of the social justice unit at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said they led to “a significant erosion in people’s living conditions” as prices of medicine, services and transportation soared.
He believes the IMF program could be implemented “over a longer period and in a more gradual manner.”
’Bitter pill to swallow’
Egypt has been here before. In 2016, a three-year $12-billion loan program brought sweeping reforms, kicking off the first of a series of currency devaluations that have decimated the Egyptian pound’s value over the years.
Egypt’s poverty rate stood at 29.7 percent in 2020, down slightly from 32.5 percent the previous year in 2019, according to the latest statistics by the country’s CAPMAS agency.
But Gamal said the current IMF-backed reforms have had a “more intense” effect on people.
“Two years ago, we had no trouble affording basics,” said Manar.
“Now, I think twice before buying essentials like food and clothing,” she added.
Earlier this month, the IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva touted the program’s long-term impact, saying Egyptians “will see the benefits of these reforms in a more dynamic, more prosperous Egyptian economy.”
Her remarks came as the IMF began a delayed review of its loan program, which could unlock $1.2 billion in new financing for Egypt.
Economist and capital market specialist Wael El-Nahas described the loan as a “bitter pill to swallow,” but called it “a crucial tool” forcing the government to make “systematic” decisions.
Still, many remain skeptical.
“The government’s promises have never proven true,” Manar said.
Egyptian expatriates send about $30 billion in remittances per year, a major source of foreign currency.
Manar relies on her brother abroad for essentials, including instant coffee which now costs 400 Egyptian pounds (about $8) per jar.
“All I can think about now is what we will do if there are more price increases in the future,” she said.
Iraq blast kills three security personnel: officials
A blast from an explosive device on Sunday killed three members of Iraq’s security forces and wounded three others in the northern province of Salaheddin, officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Tuz Khurmatu, which borders a province plagued by sporadic jihadist attacks.
Iraq declared victory over the Daesh group in late 2017, but its jihadists remain active in the country, particularly in rural areas.
Sunday’s blast killed an army regiment commander, another officer and a security service member, said Zulfiqar Al-Bayati, mayor of Tuz Khurmatu.
A security official confirmed the death toll to AFP, adding the victims had been in a vehicle when the explosion occurred.
Those killed were members of the Peshmerga forces of the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, while the wounded were members from the Iraqi army.
The Iraqi defense ministry paid tribute to the three soldiers who “fell as martyrs... while carrying out their duty.”
The Daesh group overran large swathes of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014, proclaiming its “caliphate” and launching a reign of terror.
It was defeated in Iraq in 2017 by Iraqi forces backed by a US-led military coalition, and in 2019 lost the last territory it held in Syria to US-backed Kurdish forces.
A report by United Nations experts published in July estimated there were around 1,500 to 3,000 jihadists remaining in Iraq and Syria.
Gaza civil defense says 26 dead, 59 missing after Israeli air strike
- The Gaza health ministry said 43,799 people have been confirmed dead since Oct. 7, 2023
GAZA STRIP: Gaza’s civil defense said 26 people were killed on Sunday, including children, and at least 59 were missing after an Israeli air strike hit a building in the Palestinian territory’s north.
Following the strike early Sunday, 26 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the five-story residential building in Beit Lahia, “including children and women,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
He added that at least 59 people were still trapped under the debris.
AFP images showed men covered in dust scrambling to reach people under the rubble, while some of the bodies were taken away on a donkey-pulled cart.
Other AFP images showed the flattened building with broken concrete and twisted metal sticking out from the ruins as more bodies covered in blankets lay nearby.
Hamas, which runs the territory, accused Israel of committing a “massacre” which it said is “a continuation of the genocidal war and revenge against unarmed civilians.”
Earlier on Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense said other Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people, including four women and three children, across the war-torn territory.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846.
The majority of the dead are civilians, according to ministry figures, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Hezbollah spokesman killed in Israel strike on Beirut
- “The strike on Ras Al-Nabaa killed Hezbollah media relations official Mohammed Afif,” the security source said
- Ali Hijazi, secretary-general of the Lebanese branch of the Baath party, “confirmed the death of Hezbollah media official” Afif
BEIRUT: A Lebanese security source said Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif was killed in an Israeli strike Sunday in central Beirut that hit the Lebanese branch of the Syrian Baath party.
“The strike on Ras Al-Nabaa killed Hezbollah media relations official Mohammed Afif,” the security source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media.
Ali Hijazi, secretary-general of the Lebanese branch of the Baath party, “confirmed the death of Hezbollah media official” Afif, the official National News Agency reported.
The Israeli army declined to comment.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike killed one person and wounded three others, adding that the toll was provisional and that work was ongoing to remove rubble from the site of the strike.
Afif for years had been responsible for Hezbollah’s media relations, and provided information to local and foreign journalists under the cover of anonymity.
The NNA said the strike by “enemy aircraft” caused “great destruction,” reporting an unspecified number of people “trapped under the rubble” in Ras Al-Nabaa, an area near the French embassy and a university.
It said “one of the residents of a neighboring building had received a warning call urging evacuation but it was not taken seriously.”
Since the assassination in late September of longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a huge Israeli strike, Afif had held several press conferences in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
In one such event last month, Afif announced that Hezbollah had launched a drone targeting the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
That press conference was cut short when the Israeli army warned it would strike a building nearby.
Israeli military reports soldier killed in battle north of Gaza on Saturday
CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Sunday that a fighter in the Nachshon Regiment (90), Kfir Brigade, was killed in battle north of Gaza on Saturday.
