HYDERABAD: In a sad incident, the body of a 56-year-old man, who died at his Shaikpet apartment, was left unattended by colony residents and relatives for over 36 hours since they feared that he had Covid-19. The man, Haroon Shah, used to live alone. On being informed by neighbours about his death, relatives abroad reached out to an NGO for help.
“On July 1, we found Haroon’s body beside the dining table. His food was still on the plate and he possibly died of a heart attack,” said Mohammed Asif Hussain Sohail, chairman of Sakina Foundation. Upon speaking to locals, Sohail says he gathered that though neighbours came to know about Haroon’s death after about 12 hours, they just froze in fear.
“The fear of catching the virus is so high that people are now fearing the dead. The door was unlocked when we went there. We learnt that neighbours and relatives just came and left. In fact even the police did not attend to the body,” claims Sohail. The NGO then decided to shift the body. “We convinced one of the relatives that a body can cause no harm and he assisted in the last rites,” added Sohail.