64 dead after fire in coronavirus ward at Iraq hospital

People gather outside the hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq (Str/AP)

The death toll from a catastrophic blaze at a hospital in southern Iraq has risen to 64, medical officials said.

Two health officials said more than 100 other people were injured in the fire, which swept through the coronavirus ward of the Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah on Monday.