There was no existing law in Lagos that stops the release of the bodies of COVID-19 dead patients to their relatives, the state government said on Sunday.
It also disclosed that no fewer than one million households have been reached in the search for active cases of COVID-19 in communities.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi said this while giving updates on the containment efforts of the virus in the state during a pressing conference.
Abayomi, however, noted that the state government will soon issue a policy on the use of facemasks, adding that it has commenced mass production of local face mask.
The commissioner said: “There are no existing laws that empowered us to deny the families of deceased bodies. The protocol for managing death from COVID-19 is that the body is decontaminated, and then placed in special body bags; sometimes you can double it then place it in a casket. And the coffin is sealed. Then the family will be allowed to come and collect the body and take him for burial.
The only issue is that about the existing laws, the burial will have no more than 25 people including the grave-digger in attendance. So there is no current law that allows us to deny relatives the body of the person that died of COVID-19. It is just to be done in a procedure that doesn’t expose family members and relatives to danger.” – VANGUARD
