Amritsar family refuses to claim COVID-19 victim's body; admin performs last rites

AMRITSAR: In yet another case in the state, a family in Amritsar refused to claim the body of a coronavirus victim, forcing the district administration to perform his last rites, officials said on Tuesday.

Similarly, a family in Ludhiana on Monday had refused to accept and cremate the body of a 69-year-old COVID-19 positive woman.

The administration there had to perform her last rites.

According to an official release, the 69-year-old Amritsar man, a retired superintending engineer at the civic body there, had died at a private hospital on Monday.

His family did not respond to the administration when it asked them to claim the body, it said.

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Thereafter, officials approached the family, but they did not come forward for the last rites.

The official release said the daughter of the deceased is pursuing an MBBS course and none of his family members reached the cremation ground where he was consigned to flames.

Initially, the man had tested negative for COVID-19 at the Government Medical College in Amritsar.

But when his condition did not improve, he was shifted to a private hospital, where he tested positive for the disease.

Civil Surgeon Amritsar Prabhdeep Kaur Johal said, "A few days ago, he tested negative for the infection at the GMC lab. Then he went to a private hospital which declared him positive in their preliminary report. Thereafter, we took his samples again for confirmation and found him positive for COVID-19."

In another such incident in Amritsar, residents of Verka village did not allow the cremation of Padma Shri recipient and former Golden temple Hazuri Raagi Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa.

The villagers had refused to allow the cremation of the Gurbani exponent fearing the spread of the disease.