Former UP chancellor Michael Tan, a medical anthropologist, cites the guidance of the World Health Organization that deceased COVID-19 patients are no longer infectious.
FRONTLINERS. East Avenue Medical Center health workers, push a man on a stretcher with suspected COVID-19 patient under investigation or patient under monitoring going inside the isolation tent for treatment on Monday, April 12, 2020. Photo by Darren Langit/RapplerFormer University of the Philippines chancellor Michael Tan, a medical anthropologist, has urged the Department of Health to ease some of its rules on the families of people who who died of COVID-19.
"This is where I also ask the DOH to loosen up their restrictions, because right now, its guidelines require that the bodies should be cremated within 12 hours," Tan said in mix of English and Filipino during a media forum hosted by the DOH. Under DOH guidelines on wakes and burials of COVID-19 fatalities, bodies must be placed in cadaver bags which are wrapped, sealed and sprayed with sodium hydrochloride, and cremated within 12 hours.Family and friends may view the body after it has been prepared for burial, in accordance with customs. But they should not touch or kiss the body and should wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after the viewing.
Those tasked with placing the body in the grave and on the funeral pyre, should wear gloves and wash hands with soap and water after removal of the gloves once the burial is complete.
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