At least 50 people were injured in the fire that broke out at Al-Hussein Hospital in Nasiriya city in Dhi Qar Governorate, NINA said, citing Dhi Qar province's Health Department.

Local civil defense forces announced earlier Tuesday that firefighters had brought the blaze under control.

The Iraqi Health Ministry said in an earlier statement that 41 people were killed in the fire that was caused by the misuse of oxygen cylinders.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held an emergency meeting with ministers and security officials to discuss the fire, according to a statement from his press office.

Following the meeting, Dhi Qar Governor Ahmed al-Khafaji said in a statement that a high-level committee was formed to investigate the exact cause of the fire and to present a final report to the public within 48 hours.

A state of mourning has been declared in Dhi Qar governorate for those who lost their lives in the fire and official working hours were suspended for three days from Tuesday.

Earlier Monday, a fire broke out on the fourth floor of the Ministry of Health in central Baghdad.

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At least 44 people were killed and over 67 injured in a fire likely caused by an oxygen tank explosion at a coronavirus hospital in Iraq's southern city of Nassiriya, health officials and police said on Monday, AzVision.az reports citing Reuters. 

As rescuers combed the smoke-charred building in search of more bodies, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held urgent meetings with senior ministers and ordered the suspension and arrest of health and civil defense managers in Nassiriya, his office said in a statement.

The manager of the hospital was also suspended and ordered to be arrested, the statement added.

Already decimated by war and sanctions, Iraq's healthcare system has struggled to cope with the coronavirus crisis, which has killed 17,592 people and infected more than 1.4 million.

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