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In India, Many Are Death Due To The Virus A New Guidelines For Disposal of Dead

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted important funeral and burial rituals across many religions worldwide. Social distancing requirements have limited the number of mourners and prevented cultural practices like washing and touching the deceased's body. In places like Iraq, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Ireland and Israel, communities have had to find alternative ways to honor the dead according to their traditions while preventing further spread of the virus. Cremation requirements in cities like Mumbai and burial time limits in areas like the Philippines have also clashed with customary religious observances.

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Crisyl Lipawen
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48 views

In India, Many Are Death Due To The Virus A New Guidelines For Disposal of Dead

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted important funeral and burial rituals across many religions worldwide. Social distancing requirements have limited the number of mourners and prevented cultural practices like washing and touching the deceased's body. In places like Iraq, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Ireland and Israel, communities have had to find alternative ways to honor the dead according to their traditions while preventing further spread of the virus. Cremation requirements in cities like Mumbai and burial time limits in areas like the Philippines have also clashed with customary religious observances.

Uploaded by

Crisyl Lipawen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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“Covid patient death as to religion beliefs regionality customs tradition”

The World Health Organization in its March 24 guidance on burials of COVID-19


victims says dead bodies are generally not infectious. But its recommendations that relatives do
not touch or kiss the body and government rules on social distancing to prevent the spread of
disease have upended important funeral and death rituals in virtually all the world's faiths.

In Iraq, relatives participate in washing the bodies of their loved ones and preparing them for
burial. The dead are buried the same day wherever possible. For both Muslims and Christians,
deaths are normally followed by three days of condolences held in large tents or mosques or
church halls. With the family surrounded by relatives, friends and neighbors, outpourings of grief
are expected and often encouraged. Majeed, a soldier, says his father's body was among a group
of bodies the government intended to bury in a field near Baghdad, outside the city. But tribal
leaders refused to allow the bodies to be buried there, mistakenly fearing they could spread
disease.

So paramilitary forces in hazmat suits took over the process and conducted the burials according
to Islamic rites at a sprawling cemetery in the holy city Najaf, south of Baghdad, in a special
section of COVID-19 victims.

In India, many are death due to the virus a new guidelines for disposal of dead
bodies were issued on March 15. Funerals are now limited to 20 or fewer attendees. Gone are the
big, public funeral processions that are a key part of mourning for adherents of many faiths
across South Asia. In the commercial capital Mumbai, municipal authorities announced last
month that all COVID-19 bodies must be cremated. The order said the city's burial grounds were
in densely populated areas, which might pose a risk of contamination.

Many of India's majority Hindus believe that being cremated next to the Ganges, or
having ashes submerged in its waters, ensures salvation. But with limited public transportation
and travel curtailed under lockdown, families are unable to transport the bodies or ashes of their
loved ones to the river, and there are reports of ashes piling up in crematoriums because families
can't come to pick up the ashes.
In neighboring Pakistan, the most populous province, Punjab, issues guidelines requiring
those performing the ritual Islamic washing of bodies to wear appropriate protective gear.
A prominent clerical council also called on Pakistani Muslims to practice social distancing as
they undertake traditional communal prayers to honor the dead.
In Turkey, close farewells have been replaced by distance burials. Only those physically
involved in the burial are allowed at the pre-burial body washing ritual normally attended by
close family members, and only the closest relatives can attend the burial, with the imam praying
from a safe distance away, speaking through a mask. Authorities have forbidden mourners from
approaching the coffin for a last look or word.
In Ireland, people are determined to pay their condolences despite new rules. Last week,
when an elderly resident died in a village in county Kerry, Catholic parishioners lined a more
than mile-long road to the local cemetery — socially distanced at several feet from one another
— in a tribute that was filmed and shared widely on social media. Many countries are limiting
the number of mourners allowed to attend funerals.
In Brazil, they also specify that mourners must remain about six feet apart — a stark
contrast from traditional funeral gatherings there, which often last all day and are attended by
hundreds of people.
In Israel, Some Israeli hospitals have offered alternatives to families blocked from
coronavirus wards to bid goodbye to a dying loved one. Sheba Medical Center built a glass booth
in which to place the body so families may get a last glimpse. Families stand on the other side of
a wall and peer through a window to see the deceased. Burial officials restrict funerals to 20
guests and forbid the custom of passing around a shovel for attendees to scoop dirt into the
grave, so participants don't touch the same shovel. At some funerals, participants insist on
keeping the tradition to honor the dead by scooping up dirt with their bare hands. Coronavirus
victims' bodies are wrapped in two plastic body bags to protect those who handle the body, since
coffins are not typically used in Jewish burials in Israel and bodies are lowered directly into the
grave, wrapped in shrouds.
In the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus in China, families under lockdown hadn't
been able to pick up the cremated ashes of their loved ones for the last two months, until about
late March in the run up to Tomb Sweeping holiday. That traditional Chinese festival, which
pays respect to ancestors, was observed this year on April 4. To prevent large crowds from
forming, authorities in Wuhan require families to reserve a time slot to pick up their loved ones'
ashes and bury them, while accompanied by a neighborhood official.

In the Philippines, a government edict has decreed that the remains of a COVID-19
victim should be cremated within 12 hours, with an exception if a religion forbids cremation. If
the deceased is a Muslim, for example, the body of the deceased should be placed in a sealed bag
and buried in the nearest Muslim cemetery according to Muslim rites, also within 12 hours. The
speedy burials are a disrupting departure from traditional Christian burials in the Philippines, a
predominantly Catholic country where the "lamay" or wake can last three to seven days.

Resources

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/07/828317535/coronavirus-is-
changing-the-rituals-of-death-for-many-religions

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