The step was a preemptive move for avoiding repeating the Ibn Al-Khatib hospital incident.

The director general of the governorate's health Directorate, Saddam Saheb, told Shafaq News Agency "These devices were hidden from the health monitoring agencies."

Saheb added that his administration also held an expanded meeting with the civil defense in the governorate, to find ways to maintain and operate the fire-fighting and alarm systems.

Earlier, a fire at a COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad took at least 88 lives and forced some people to leap through windows out of the burning building.

As rescuers combed the smoke-charred building, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi blamed negligence and suspended his Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi pending an inquiry into Saturday's blaze at the Ibn Khatib hospital.

Some 110 people were also injured. Most of the dead and injured were patients.