Hospitals in Indonesia have increased security at the morgue after the incident when relatives came to rob the bodies of COVID-19 patients and take them home to perform the traditional burial ceremony of Islam, Indonesian police said. know today 12-6.
Channel Channel News Asia said that under the new regulations on epidemic prevention of Indonesia, the patient’s body to be wrapped COVID-19 in plastic wrap and rapid burial to prevent the virus from spreading. This rule makes it impossible for relatives of the dead to perform traditional funeral rituals, including washing the body from head to toe.
Authorities also asked families not to linger at the cemeteries. This means they cannot pray for the deceased.
This week, families went to a number of hospitals in Makassar City on the island of Sulawesi and took the body of COVID-19 patient home, according to authorities.
Ibrahim Tompo, a local police spokesman, said at least 33 people had been arrested. If convicted, these people could face up to seven years in prison for violating medical isolation rules.
Mr. Tompo added that the Makassar government has deployed more personnel to protect local hospitals.
The man said a number of rumors that many people were quickly buried dead because of illnesses not related to COVID-19 aggravated the death of corpses caused by COVID-19.
"This angered many families and locals, so they decided to take the body home," said Tompo.
In Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, authorities on June 12 said they arrested four people after they robbed the body of a relative infected with COVID-19 at a local hospital.
Also this week, dozens of people stormed the body of a man at a hospital in Bekasi City, adjacent to the capital, Jakarta, police said.
Police quoted testimony of a man who took part in the "robbery" of the body, saying they robbed the body of a loved one because he died before the test results were available. However, this person was later confirmed to be infected with COVID-19.
According to the Worldometer statistics page , the world has more than 7.7 million COVID-19 infections and more than 428,000 deaths.
The United States is still the country with the most serious epidemic with 2,117,027 cases and 116,831 deaths. Behind the United States is Brazil with 829,902 infections and 41,901 deaths.
Indonesia alone, the world’s fourth most populous country, recorded 36,406 infections and 2,048 deaths.
