Sri Lanka can bury COVID-19 victims : SLMA

COLOMBO (News1st): The burial of COVID-19 victims can be permitted in Sri Lanka based on available scientific data, the Sri Lanka Medical Association has said. "A positive PCR found post-mortem does not necessarily mean that the dead body is infectious," the SLMA said in a statement. It added that the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted only the respiratory route. "The virus itself can thrive only inside a living cell. It is unlikely that it could remain infectious within a dead body for any significant period of time," the statement read. The SLMA also dismissed concerns raised on the burial of humans citing environmental issues that arose due to the massive burial of minks culled in Denmark. "The reported planned exhumation and cremation of a large number of minks culled in Denmark was not due to any possible contamination of water resources by the virus," the statement read. "It was due to a large amount of nitrogenous waste from these decomposing mink carcasses contaminating the nearby water sources and polluting the environment". The medical association pointed out that the burial of corpses had been practised even in the case of severe waterborne diseases like Cholera.