28 December 2020 12:00 am
By Sirangoika Lokukaravita - Galle
Health Authorities in Galle have warned that keeping the bodies of Corona victims in cold rooms violating the Gazette notification of the Ministry of Health was similar to storing COVID-19 virus and that it could result in the danger of possible spread of the virus.
Chief JMO of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital Dr. Rohan Ruwanpura, JMO and Senior Lecturer in Forensic Medicine in the Ruhunu University, Dr. U. C. P Perera and JMO Ruwan Nanayakkara told the media yesterday that the PCR tests confirmed that the virus on the dead bodies were positive even after five days of their death.
They said the requests to keep the dead bodies in cold rooms was not a practical measure.
They pointed out that the PCR tests carried out on the body of an 84-year-old individual who had died of Corona virus on December 19 , had revealed that the virus was still active on December 24. The doctors said the relatives who did not agree with it, sought a court order restraining the cremation.
However, on the orders of the Galle Chief Magistrate, the body was cremated on December 24 , at the Dadalla Public Cemetery.
Dr. Ruwanpura said the result of the final PCR test carried out a little while before the cremation, had been received yesterday confirming that the virus was still positively active.
He said the body of another Covid victim who was cremated at state expenses and repeated PCR tests carried out on the body had confirmed that the virus was still active.