The Delhi government has issued fresh guidelines for the disposal of dead bodies of people infected with Covid-19. The guideline prohibits hospitals from collecting samples from the bodies.
As per the new standard operating procedures (SoP), issued on Sunday, the guidelines need to be followed for the disposal of the bodies of those who tested positive for the disease before death. The guidelines also need to be applied on those whose sample had been collected before death and tested positive after, or for any person who died after being admitted to a hospital on suspicion of having the viral infection.
The order issued by Delhi’s Health Secretary, Padmini Singla, reads, “No sample for Covid-19 test will be taken of a dead body. However, if doctors are satisfied from clinical examination that the cause of death may be Covid-19 infection, the dead body may be released as suspect Covid-19 infected dead body”.
The move may help in conserving testing kits as there would be no testing on those brought dead to the hospital and suspected to have infection. Covid-19 designated hospitals earlier were doing a testing before releasing the body.