Getting a grave for Saad Malik - who lost his father a week ago to the new Corona virus in Iraq - became a dream due to the refusal of official burials and residents to receive the victims of the epidemic because they believed that they were a source of infection, so the bodies were piled in the refrigerators of the dead.

Malik and his cousin Salem al-Shammari left the quarantine a few days ago, because they had contact with the deceased person. Since then, their attempts to secure a pit to bury Saad’s father, whose body was returned to a Baghdad hospital refrigerator, have failed.

"We have not performed a funeral for my father, and we cannot bury his body, despite the fact that more than a week has passed since his death," Malik told "Agence France-Presse" in a tone filled with grief over the loss of his father. "Does it make sense that this great Iraq does not have several meters to bury a small group of bodies?"

So far, the "Covid 19" virus has killed 42 Iraqis, and infected more than 500 people, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health. But these numbers may be less than the actual existing injuries, as only about 2000 people out of 40 million people were examined throughout Iraq.

The great rejection comes from the tribes, which have the last word. For example, a major tribe in northeastern Baghdad, for example, prevented a team from the Ministry of Health, which was transporting four bodies buried in the graves designated by the state for the victims of Corona. When the same team tried to bury the bodies in the Nahrawan area in southeastern Baghdad, dozens of residents went out with a demonstration, prompting the team to return the bodies to hospital refrigerators.

Al-Shammari notes that "the cars of the gunmen who claimed to belong to a clan, threatened us and told us (we will burn your car if you are buried here) despite the presence of the police cars with us."

"I will bury her in my house."

"We felt panic over our children and our families (...) so we decided to prevent any burial in our areas," said one resident who refused to be buried in a cemetery near them.

Despite the assurances of the Minister of Health, Jaafar Allawi, that things will go well, there are standing objections that forced the minister to appeal to religious authorities to interfere in facilitating the burial.

The problem affected deaths in several governorates, including the holy city of Najaf among the Shiites, where the Peace Cemetery, which is among the largest in the world.

According to the families of the deceased, the authorities also failed to obtain permits for burial in Karbala, due to the refusal of their local authorities.

One of the doctors, who requested anonymity, says that the authorities approached the Najaf authority to receive the corpse of the deceased with the Corona virus, but it was rejected, and the ministry became unable to find solutions. The doctor quotes the husband of one of the women who died from the disease as saying after his despair, "Hand me the body and I'll bury it in my home." "This is the case, and we have about 40 deaths," he explains. What if the situation worsens? Where are we going to put the corpses? ”

There is great concern about losing control in Iraq, especially as it is adjacent to Iran, which was hit by the virus, and has so far killed more than 2,500 people. Iraq faces the virus today, with a small number of doctors and hospitals exhausted by successive wars.

"A bed of life"

According to the World Health Organization, there are 14 hospital beds in Iraq for every 10,000 people. For comparison, France, whose virus has overtaken its health system, has beds for every 60 people. So the Iraqis are seeking alternatives to ensure their lives amid this health disaster. For example, Mortada Al-Zubaidi seeks to help those infected with the Coronavirus in Iraq with the "bed of life" that he devised, which is a transparent capsule containing a bed, an oxygen bottle, an air conditioner and a TV, which will be a place for the stone. Al-Zubaidi made this capsule in the yard of his home in the oil-rich southern city of Zubayr, but it is neglected in terms of public services, with the support of government employee Aqil al-Tamimi.

"This is a human invention" in order to send "security and tranquility," says Al-Zubaidi, 49, who specializes in medical technology. Although this device cost 4000 dollars, there is no opinion of experts or doctors that it will benefit or help in dealing with the epidemic.

A Ministry of Health spokesman, Saif Al-Badr, says in a video posted on social media that the burial ban is "an issue inconsistent with the religious and humanitarian norms that stress that honoring the dead buried him." He considered that the issue of the spread of the disease from the dead "is not based on scientific facts", and that there are measures taken by the state to reduce risks "such as sterilization and wrapping the body with special bags and coffins."

Amid this dilemma, al-Shammari says with sorrow: "It is no longer heartbreaking for us to die. Rather, our dream is to bury our dead."