Lagos state Commissioner of Health, Professor Akin Abayomi has disclosed that the burial of any patient who dies from COVID-19 complications must not exceed 25 people.
Abayomi who gave the disclosure at the daily Press briefing on COVID-19 explained that while the government had no policy withholding the bodies of the deceased, burials of such people must not exceed 25 persons
The Health Commissioner made this known after a Journalist questioned him about the release of Abba Kyari’s body to relatives, an action that contradicts the statement of Minister of Information Lai Mohammed who once stated the federal government would not release COVID-19 corpses to family members.
Lai Mohammed in March 2020 disclosed that the body of a COVID-19 corpse remained contagious even in death.
Responding to the Journalist, Abayomi said;
“There is no policy against the release of the deceased with COVID-19 in terms of release for burial. If you demise from any condition, there’s protocol to manage every scenario. The protocol for managing death from COVID-19 is that the body is decontaminated. The body is then placed in a special body bag. We put them in two body bags and then place within a coffin and the coffin is sealed.
“The family is then given the opportunity to come and collect the body and take for burial. The only restriction around burial is that you follow the current state law on congregations and that no more than 25 people in total, including the religious members of the ceremony and the grave diggers, do not exceed 25”