The huge blaze erupted Wednesday night—claiming lives of ten. Fire services and rescue teams rushed to the scene and fought to douse the flames for a couple of hours.

It’s not yet clear how the large blaze started or how many patients were inside.

While the cause has yet to be established, the country's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev posted on social media that the fire had followed an on-site explosion.

Огромна трагедија се случи во тетовскиот КОВИД-19 центар. Експлозија предизвикала пожар. Пожарот е изгаснат, но згаснаа и многу животи.

Изразувам најдлабоко сочувство до семејствата и блиските на починатите и посакувам брзо закрепнување на повредените.https://t.co/55sVhZEyXO

— Зоран Заев (@Zoran_Zaev) September 8, 2021

Footage shared on social media showed a building in flames and a thick cloud of black smoke billowing into the air near a main road in the city of Tetovo.

JUST IN - At least 15 people killed and dozens injured after a fire broke at a Covid hospital in North Macedoniapic.twitter.com/FC9lbBoDJJ

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 8, 2021

The facility was reportedly built last year to help care for COVID-19 patients.

Tetovo deputy fire Chief, Saso Trajcevski said, "The fire was huge because the hospital is modular, there was plastic".

The fire occurred as the former Yugoslav republic celebrated the 30th anniversary of its independence, with festivities in the capital Skopje, including a military parade.

However, investigators have gone to the scene to determine the cause of Yesterday’s fire.

Meanwhile, North Macedonia has been battling a surge in COVID-19 cases recently with 701 new cases and 24 deaths in the past 24 hours.

It has recorded more than 6,100 fatalities in total since the start of the COVID outbreak.

Macedonia government had to impose stricter measures, in a bid to prevent the spread of virus.

North Macedonia has a population of around 2 million and its healthcare services are run down as hospitals are overwhelmed in some areas, particularly where vaccination rates are low.

Covid-19 hospitals in other countries have been hit by explosions followed by fires. In Iraq, dozens of people were killed in fires that occurred after oxygen cylinders exploded in April and July.

According to National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), around 4,062 cases of coronavirus were reported while 84 people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 26,497.

The total number of cases has reached 1,194,198.

As many as 1,076,112 patients have recovered from the disease with 5,383 critical cases.

Punjab                 

The number of patients swelled to 408,758 in the province with 12,135 causalities.

Sindh

The number of infections has surged to 441,410 in the province, while the death toll has reached 7,073.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The confirmed cases have surged to 166,564 in the province with 5,175 casualties.

Balochistan

There are 32,480 confirmed cases while 342 patients have died from the infection so far.

AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan

There are 33,037 coronavirus cases in the AJK while the death toll has reached 714. On the other hand, there are 10,109 cases in GB with 179 coronavirus deaths.

Islamabad

There are 101,840 cases in the capital city while 879 people have lost their lives.

On its official twitter handle, Cricket Australia said that it will not host Afghanistan planned Test match in Hobart starting November 27, if news reports of Taliban views on the women’s game were true.

"If recent media reports that women's cricket will not be supported in Afghanistan are substantiated, Cricket Australia would have no alternative but not to host Afghanistan for the proposed Test match due to be played in Hobart," said Cricket Australia in its statement.

An update on the proposed Test match against Afghanistan ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/p2q5LOJMlw

— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) September 9, 2021

The Taliban, banned sports for women in the country saying, they don't think women will be allowed to play cricket as it’s not necessary for them to participate.

According to SBS, Ahmadullah Wasiq, deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission said, “In cricket, women might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered”.

“Islam does not allow women to be seen like this," he stressed.

Meanwhile, players from Afghanistan women’s soccer team are among dozens of athletes who were given visas to live in Australia and have been undergoing quarantine amid coronavirus pandemic.

However, it is a move that could cost Afghanistan its status as a Test-playing nation.

Afghanistan has a national women's cricket team — but its status has been thrown into question along with every other woman in the country after the Taliban ousted the U.S.-backed government.

In August, Taliban allowed men’s cricket to continue and gave approval for the men’s national team to travel to Australia for a test match in November.