The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 said on Monday that bodies of persons, who died of coronavirus, were not infectious.
The National Coordinator of the task force, Dr. Sani Aliyu, stated this at a media briefing of the PTF in Abuja while reacting to the outcry that greeted the total disregard of social distancing guidelines during the burial of late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.
Kyari, who died of COVID-19 last Friday was buried at Gudu cemetery, Abuja, on Saturday at a ceremony attended by a large crowd of people including members of the PTF and top government functionaries.
At the regular briefing of the PTF on Monday, however, its National Coordinator, Aliyu, stated that the coronavirus cannot be transmitted from a corpse to a living person.
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He assured members of the public that the task force would continue to follow its guidelines.
He said, “I would like to further clarify the issue of COVID-19 and burial processes. Contrary to what is on social media, the late chief of staff’s body was properly prepared for burial, according to the NCDC guidelines and the Islamic faith.
“The bodies of persons with COVID-19, as stated by the WHO guidelines and I quote, ‘Except in cases of viral haemorrhagic fever and cholera, dead bodies are generally not infectious.’
“To date, there is no evidence of persons having become infected from exposure to the bodies of persons who have died of COVID-19.”
