COVID 19 Pandemic or the Novel Corona Virus 2019 has terrorised the living communities. Part II
By Malini Shankar
Digital Discourse Foundation
Given that we are living in unprecedented times, we have to resort to guidelines. Government of Karnataka's, (a state in South India), guidelines states “It is hereby clarified that dead bodies of ‘suspected’ COVID 19 cases should be handed over to their relatives immediately after swab collection and should not await laboratory confirmation of COVID.
“These dead bodies can as a
matter of abundant precaution shall (sic) be disposed off as per guidelines on COVID
19 dead body management of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the
Government of India and State Government guidelines as mentioned in reference.
If such cases test positive eventually, then the required action for contract
tracing, tracking etc. should be carried out subsequently”. The Government
order does not clarify or record how to do contact tracing from a deceased,
nevertheless!
The Wet Markets in Wuhan China – the epicentre of the COVID 19 - where wildlife or Bush Meat is exhibited as live creatures and shoppers can buy fresh meat slaughtered in front of them and sold fresh, has confounded scientists.
If the Coronavirus has indeed jumped species… then according to science it can “jump” species only when the host is alive. “There is no evidence available for zoonotic transmission (i.e. from animal to human spread)” clarifies Dr. Devadass, the retired Dean and Director of Forensics Department at the state run Victoria Hospital in Bangalore. Dr. P Sachin a veterinarian based in Bangalore agrees: Coronavirus is not a zoonotic disease. So it will not spread from your house cat to a human, relax”.
So why then are the governments
burying victims without an opportunity for loved ones to say a farewell in
culturally sanctioned funeral rites of passage?
Dr. P.S. Varghese, HOD of Forensics Department at the St Johns University of Medical Sciences in Bangalore explains “Death due to corona virus is a natural death, as it is due to a clinical disease and thus no medico legal autopsy is required. However to study the disease process a clinical autopsy may be done with the consent of the relatives”.
“The virus persists in body fluids of COVID 19
infected dead body for up to 72 hours. Hence the dead body cannot be handed over
to family members directly within this time. The body will be handed over to
the officer of the municipality under his/her supervision – to prevent the
relatives taking the dead body to their houses for public display or anything
similar, and the dead body is disposed off as per Government orders” says Dr.
P.K. Devadass, who is a retired Dean and Director of the Department of
Forensics at the Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru.
German forensic specialists in Hamburg's Forensic Institute have found traces of Coronavirus in the eyeballs / eye tissues of mortalities during autopsies DW documentary on COVID 19 autopsy
Callous burials in Karnataka A source familiar with forensics told Digital Discourse Foundation “unclaimed bodies are usually disposed off callously in the absence of family members”.
Since Mid-June social media was
flooded with scandalous, disdainful disposal of COVID 19 mortalities from many
parts of India USA Mexico, Brazil Mass graves in Brazil and so on. Dumping of COVID 19 mortalities in
mass graves with earth moving equipment in Brazil or dumping COVID 19
mortalities into the sea from helicopters in Mexico were equally insensate.
“The absence of a body to confirm the death complicated the grieving process for the bereaved” says the WHO report on the Tsunami in South Asia 2004 A Comprehensive Analysis.
“The COVID 19 Virus can survive from 48 to 72
hours in a dead body. The presence of virus on various surfaces are as follows
…
- · On steel 48 hours,
- · Aluminium 2-8 hours,
- · Surgical gloves 8 hours,
- · Paper, wood & glass 4 days,
- · Plastic 5 days,
- · Clothing & masks 12 hours.
Hence surface cleaning and
disinfection is mandatory. This presence is based on temperature and relative
humidity of the environment. In case of dead body, the virus will survive as
long as the cells survive. Only RNA of the virus will persist in environment /
dead bodies. The COVID 19 virus from above said surfaces, can be transmitted to
humans via contact and inhalation” says Dr. P.K. Devadass.
Cremation is the preferred means of disposal of the dead especially during pandemics because the virus is sure to be eliminated during cremation. Land is too expensive to maintain as cemeteries for the departed.
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| An aerial view (from Google Earth) of a cemetery behind the Protestant Church in Marl Sinsen, Recklinghusen in Germany. Its so well kept, that it feels like a walk in the Park. I used to live with the Pastorin of the Protestant Church during my exchange year in Germany. When my parents came visiting, my hostess took us for a walk in this park... leaving my dad somewhat culture shocked! My mother commented that the cemetery looked like Brindavan Gardens, so neat were the rows of flower bearing plants... |
Europeans have started cremation and placing the ashes in an urn inside the graveyard even before the Pandemic. That way a family of four get a burial site of 2 metres X 1.5 metres X 3 metres to bury the ashes of a whole family of four to six people. Digging graves of 2 x 1.5 x 3 metres for one individual is unsustainable for Humanity’s future.
“With regard to balancing the
tradition, faith & religious customs, it is difficult in countries like
India where mode of disposal of dead bodies is different for different religions
and among religions it differs considerably, depending upon caste. In respecting
the tradition, the Government of Karnataka is identifying specific land for
burial, especially for COVID 19 victims.
But it is a matter of merely a
couple of decades before unsustainable human footprint makes its presence felt
on such identified burial grounds too.
As for maintaining the grave yard,
Christian cemeteries are managed by the churches after collecting contributions
from the members of the church. Among Muslims, they have got separate burial
grounds managed by trusts. The Hindu burial grounds comes under
municipalities., but the maintenance is pathetic. Most of the graves are
managed by the relatives by spending money from their own pockets, depending
upon their financial status. Most of the
Hindu burial grounds are cleared off weeds & bushes (only) once in a year, on
Shivarathri day. Rest of the year, hardly anybody visits the graves of the
relatives. Besides, it is a den for
anti-social elements” rues Dr. P.K. Devadass in an email interview to Digital Discourse Foundation.
While Italy, Spain, Mexico and Germany – all staunchly Catholic countries (except Germany which has more or less equal numbers of Catholics and Protestants amongst the native German population), adopted cremation of COVID 19 victims, because of lesser demand on Land, in South India we are seeing burial / mass burial of COVID 19 moralities.
In this small film- perhaps
the owner of the cemetery - in San Cristobal, Mexico is telling the interviewer
“that the person who died, is going to be cremated and that the places for
cremation in Mexico are running at full capacity”.
India on the other hand - where
cremation is ideal for the prevailing agro meteorological conditions,- burial
of the dead has been prescribed in Government guidelines during the COVID 19
Pandemic. Burial is not only culturally unacceptable, but is triggering
uncomfortable and unanswered questions. For culturally diverse India one uniform policy will be difficult indeed even for the Government to prescribe / guide.
The Catholic countries have
resorted to cremating the COVID 19 victims / moralities and in deference to
traditions, bury the urn containing the ash. To conceal the graveyard flowering
plants are grown luxuriously in the graveyards. India’s Vedic traditions
however, prescribe disposal of the ashes in West flowing River systems. This is utterly environmentally detrimental.
In Bolivia’s capital La Paz
however, residents opposed the thick black smoke and smell of burning of human
fat during the cremation of COVID 19 victims. Environmental regulations have to
be necessarily followed. COVID 19
pestilence is an opportunity to do course correction of wrong cultural practices.
Cultural sensitivity is certainly
politically correct but a Pandemic surely calls for safe and best practices. In
Islamic countries cremation is unthinkable as burial is preferred culturally.
When the Asian Tsunami stuck the
Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, 800 islanders perished in Car Nicobar in
15 minutes after the debilitating Great Andaman Sumatra Earthquake. Decomposition set in by the same evening
defying identification of the dead. But a dedicated cemetery for the largely Christian population of Nicobar exists for those who died in the Tsunami.
Cremation onsite was inevitable
given the meagre land resources in the Island. On mainland India – in the state
of Tamilnadu though, decomposed bodies of the victims of the monster Tsunami
were buried in mass graves after relatives were given an opportunity to
practise their cultural rites and take leave.
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| Given that a mass burial deprives surviving members of the family a culturally sanctioned farewell, - which can trigger mental health issues among the living, - both PAHO & WHO guidelines advocate against mass burial as far as possible. |
It is difficult to conclude as to what preferred method of disposal of the mortal remains may be a Best Practice. Guidelines drawn by experts are meant exactly to serve this purpose at times like this. That said, agro meteorological conditions are a factor. Scientific knowledge and agro meteorological conditions make these two founding tenets the most decisive factors in deciding best practices one way or the other.
To be continued
This article can be reproduced but not edited because of the sensitivity of technical details.
Picture Credits: Malini Shankar, Pixabay, Reshmi Dasguta (Facebook), G.S. Bedi IAS.
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