Relatives of Covid-19 patients allowed to take bodies home, Kerala CM announces

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Thiruvanantapuram, Jun 30, 2021: Relatives of Covid-19 patients are now being permitted to see the body and perform limited religious rites, all within an hour in Kerala.

 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday announced the change in the funeral protocol for Covid victims and said, “Family members and relatives are unable to pay their last respects to those who died of COVID-19. This is adding to emotional distress. To address it, the bodies of those who died of COVID-19 will be allowed to be taken home. The body can be kept for up to one hour.”

The new restrictions would come into effect from Thursday, July 1. He has also informed that banks have been directed to halt the revenue recovery proceedings of Covid victims who have defaulted on bank loans.

However, as cases continue to rise unabated, Kerala has extended the lockdown restrictions in the state for another week. “Today’s review meeting has decided to make small changes in the classification of areas according to the spread of the disease," CM Vijayan said while addressing a press meet.

Meanwhile, the Local Self Government bodies have been reclassified on the basis of the average test-positivity rate (TPR) for the last seven days.

Accordingly, there are 165 local bodies in the A category (TPR less than 6 per cent), 473 in the B category (6-12 per cent TPR), 316 in the C category (12-18 per cent TPR), and 80 in the D category (TPR more than 18 per cent).

As many as 13,550 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Kerala today from 1,23,225 sample tests in the last 24 hours with a TPR of 11 per cent.