AL-MALIKIYAH, Syria — The Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC) recently received the body of a woman to bury at a designated site in Gerbalat, Syria, that has been established for those who die abroad, regardless of the cause of death.

The woman, 65, had lived near Qamishli in northeast Hasakah, but died in Germany. Hussein Hussein, her brother, told Al-Monitor by phone, “My sister didn't die because of the coronavirus, but because she had high blood pressure and suffered from diabetes. We will move [her] body to the family’s cemetery in Girbawi once the lockdown is over."

Officials of the autonomous administration of northeast Syria, an area known as Rojava, on March 30 ordered that the bodies of Kurdish citizens who die abroad be buried in special graves near border crossings, in line with precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Ahmad Baz, media office director at the Semalka border crossing, told Al-Monitor, “The woman was the first to be buried at the designated site, and there are other corpses expected to arrive in the coming period. When COVID-19 disappears, the autonomous administration will allow the families of those buried in Gerbalat to move the corpses to their own cemeteries in their cities, towns and villages.”