But the nature and sheer scale of the current coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic now brought a number of questions with regard to how the government has handled burials of victims, with experts now condemning the Health Ministry for violating the dignity of the dead.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its March 24 guidance on burials of Covid-19 victims said that dead bodies are generally not infectious.

This, coupled with the Health Ministry’s directives that local health authorities should designate a team to oversee the process and that a maximum of only 15 people, strictly adhering to the social distancing, will be allowed at the funeral of their loved one, have upended important death and burial rituals.

The Health ministry notes that to avoid community practices that would result in more infections through contact, bodies of people who have died of, or suspected to have died of Covid-19, should be handled by a public health official.

Families of three Covid-19 patients who have been buried by health officials donned in personal protective gear have decried the manner in which their kin have been buried, alleging that the government did not let them have a say in the burials.