The corpse of Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to the President, was released for burial in Abuja despite having died as a result of complication from coronavirus in Lagos, because there is no policy against the action.
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, made this known in Lagos on Sunday during a press briefing.
He however explained that there were strict protocols that had to be followed to do that.
The commissioner gave the explanation in response to a query over the movement of the remains of Abba Kyari to Abuja for burial in spite of the impression given earlier by Alhaji Lai Mohammed that corpses of anyone who died of the disease could not be recovered by the family.
Mohammed is the Minister of Information and Culture.
Abba Kyari died in Lagos on Friday and his body taken to Abuja for burial on Saturday.
Speaking at the press conference on Sunday, Abayomi said protocol demanded that the corpse must be decontaminated and well packed before release.
His words: “There is no policy against the release of the deceased with COVID-19 in terms of release for burial. If you demise from any condition, there’s protocol to manage every scenario.
“The protocol for managing death from COVID-19 is that the body is decontaminated. The body is then placed in a special body bag; we put them in two body bags and then place within a coffin and the coffin is sealed.
“The family is then given the opportunity to come and collect the body and take for burial. The only restriction around burial is that you follow the current state law on congregations and that no more than 25 people in total, including the religious members of the ceremony and the grave diggers.
“So, family members can carry out a private burial ceremony once we’ve conducted proper protocol for decontaminating the body and ensuring that the body is sealed in body bags and further on sealed in a coffin.
“So, there is no current policy that bars us from handing over the deceased to their family members; it just has to be done in a way that does not expose family members or does not break the current law around the numbers of people to be congregated in one place.”
