Cremation of Covid-19 victims will continue – Sudarshini

Still no change in existing burial procedure

by Suresh Perera

There is still no change in the official decision to allow the burial of patients who succumb to Covid-19, State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle said yesterday.

“The status quo remains. Cremations will continue as per regulations in place”, she told The Sunday Island.

She said that until and unless there is a new gazette notification issued to legally permit the burial of coronavirus victims, health authorities will continue with the existing cremation procedure in terms of the law.

There was speculation that the process would be reversed after Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told Parliament that the government has decided to permit the burial of Covid victims.

However, the recommendations of a scientific committee appointed to examine the issue are being awaited to make a final determination on whether it was safe to sanction burials, health officials said.

With claims and counter claims that permitting the burial of Covid-19 victims could contaminate ground water and pose a health risk to the population, there needs to be an indepth analysis by experts to clear grey areas before arriving at a formal decision, they explained.

The Muslim community in particular has been demanding that burials be permitted in keeping with their religious rites.

Water used by Covid patients in treatment centres also seep into water ground tables. Medical opinion seems to be divided on the controversial subject with some experts indicating the possibility of the virus persisting and remaining infectious in or on the body of someone who has died.

A professor of microbiology whose specialty is virology said the dead body of a Covid infected person does not pose a risk to ground water as the potency to spread the virus is negated after death.

There are antibodies in a dead (infected) patient’s system, which could continue to pose the risk of transmission, a medical specialist opined.

Asked whether the pandemic has virtually gone out of control particularly with the emergence of the highly contagious new variant, Minister Fernandopulle assured that the situation is being managed effectively under a concerted campaign.

Sri Lanka saw the highest number of 13 Covid-19 related deaths on Wednesday since the outbreak of the contagion around March 2020.

The number of positive cases have declined over the past two days, the Minister said, while adding that it was still too early to predict how the wave will play out.

Of the numbers, all those listed don’t die of corona per se as there are a few among them who succumb to non communicable diseases such as heart attacks, diabetes, kidney failure, suffer strokes or have other underlying medical conditions, she noted.

Medical officials warned that patients with co-mobidity face a bigger risk if they contract the virus as it could prove fatal under the circumstances.

As of Friday (19), the Covid-19 death toll stood at 430 with 78,926 infections and 72,566 recoveries.

The presence of the British variant of the virus is also believed to have contributed to the surge in infections as the new strain has been declared highly contagious.