Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 6) — The remains of the Chinese man who succumbed to novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection may just be buried in a public cemetery if no crematorium will accept it, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said Thursday.
Duque said the department has still not found a crematorium that would receive the body. He added he has instructed the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila to coordinate with a public cemetery on a burial without cremation.
“The crematory owners have decided not to (cremate) for not very clear reasons, so I have instructed the medical executive from San Lazaro Hospital to coordinate with the public cemetery and see if the corpse can just be buried there,” he said in a media briefing.
The secretary did not identify the cemetery.
Duque said they would still need to clarify matters with the Chinese embassy given that Chinese health officials have opted for cremation for coronavirus victims. China’s health ministry has even banned burials and funerals to prevent the spread of the virus.
“They (San Lazaro Hospital) have to also get in touch with the Chinese embassy because the initial agreement was for cremation to be undertaken,” Duque said. “So now if it’s not going to be cremated and buried instead, I don’t know what the protocol is with regards to that.”
The 44-year-old patient passed away on February 1. A number of crematoriums, mostly run by Chinese operators, have since backed out, causing delays in disposal.
Henry Lim Bon Liong, president of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc., said it is a common practice not just among Chinese-operated crematoriums but also Filipino businesses to refuse infected cadavers.
“They are all in one single industry practice [which] does not allow them to cremate people dying of infectious disease, so we want to clear with you, it’s really the norm,” Liong told CNN Philippines’ On The Record.
Liong said the Health department could have just disposed the body in a government crematorium instead.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization Representative Rabindra Abeyansighe deferred the matter of cremation to “national rules.”
On the possible health risks from not burning the body, he said, “Ideally the virus wouldn’t be surviving so long in a cadaver.”
However, he added that the corpse must be sealed inside a body bag since it hosted an infectious disease.
“We don’t want to expose health workers and other workers to unnecessary threat, ” Abeyasinghe said.
The 2019-nCoV has killed more than 560 and infected over 28,000 people. The WHO maintained that the virus’ mortality rate of two percent is significantly lower than previous infectious diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The mortality rate for MERS in 2009 was at 34 percent while for SARS in 2002 was at 14 percent, Abeyansinghe shared.
