Iraqi children's hospital fighting to keep cancer patients safe from COVID-19

A child who suffers from cancer lies on a bed at the Children's Hospital for Cancer Diseases, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Basra, Iraq July 9, 2020. Picture taken July 9, 2020. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani

BASRA (Reuters) - Basra Children's Hospital which specialises in cancer treatment has cut admissions by half since May due to the novel coronavirus, its director said, and is battling to keep children safe from infection with a new isolation ward and testing of staff.

Hospital director Ali Abulhussein al-Idani said that since June, five children were diagnosed with the illness upon admission to the hospital, including a six month-old child, who died of complications.