BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has allowed the cremation of bodies of COVID-19 suspects without waiting for their test reports to avoid delay in the conduct of last rites, officials said.
Additional Chief Secretary, Health, PK Mohapatra has directed all district collectors and municipal corporation commissioners to follow the new rule.
"It is clarified that as we are in the midst of a global pandemic, as a measure of abundant precaution, in all such cases the dead body may be disposed of as per COVID norms, in compassionate consultation with the family of the deceased," Mohapatra said a letter to district officials on Monday night.
There has been a delay in cremation of bodies in the state as officials waited for the COVID-19 test report of the victim after his or her death.
In Ganjam district, the body of a police personnel was allegedly abandoned at a hospital because his test report for COVID-19 was awaited.
The additional chief secretary said the new norm will reduce the trauma faced by the grieving family and there will be no delay in disposal of the body.
If a suspected COVID-19 patient under treatment or quarantine dies before his swab can be tested, the body may be disposed as per the COVID norms without insisting on the test report, he said.
On July 25, the state government had issued detailed guidelines for disposal of the bodies of COVID-19 patients.
It had said that the body shall be handled and transported in a "decent" manner.
The guidelines also said that while disposing the body at the crematorium or the burial ground, the family members of the victim may be allowed to perform the last rites according to their religious faith without touching the body, maintaining a minimum safe distance and following standard hygienic precautions.
The family members may be allowed to collect the ash after the cremation for the last rites, the guidelines said, adding that not more than 20 people should be allowed in the funeral.
Odisha's COVID-19 tally reached 28,107 and the death toll climbed to 154 on Tuesday, officials said.