Apr 7, 2020

Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government will prosecute the organizers of a prohibited funeral service that infected dozens of people with the coronavirus in the Kurdish region of Iraq, officials told a local news organization.

“Arrest warrants have been issued for five people who organized a mourning ceremony on March 21 which led to the infection" of a number of people with COVID-19, a spokesperson for Erbil's crisis task force told Rudaw.

Some of those wanted for arrest are themselves hospitalized with the virus, the Erbil-based news outlet reported. Their arrests will be delayed until they have recovered.

Despite a ban on funerals and other large gatherings, mourners gathered last month in Erbil's Karezan neighborhood for two separate services that infected at least 72 people, Health Minister Saman Barzanji said. On Sunday, the ministry announced 18 new cases in Erbil, each of whom came in contact with an infected person during one of the funerals.

The infected mourners now make up 35% of all cases in Erbil, according to the city’s health directorate, which announced plans to sue the two families who broke the rules by holding the funerals. Rudaw quoted Barzanji as saying today that Karezan and 10 other neighborhoods have been placed under quarantine.