Odisha villagers deny cremation of youth suspecting COVID-19

Kabisuryanagar: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, relatives and villagers denied to allow cremation of a youth who died because of a disease other than coronavirus in Kabisuryanagar area in Ganjam district today.

As per reports, the youth, Somanath Patra of Gopinathpatna area in Kabisuryanagar was suffering from fever and cough for the past 10 days. Yesterday when Somanath’s condition deteriorated, his brother and sister took him to Sitalapali COVID hospital in an ambulance.

However, Somanath died on the way to the hospital. When the brother and sister of Somanath returned to the village today along with his dead body in the ambulance, villagers did not allow them to enter the village. Following this, the body of the youth remained in the ambulance for several hours.

After coming to know about the matter, the local administration intervened and sent a JCB machine to dig a pit so that the body could be buried. But when no one turned up to lend a shoulder to Somanath’s dead body, his brother and sister dragged the body up to the pit near a petrol pump located on the main road.

“Though we have relatives, no one visits us to express grief as they suspect Somanath died due to COVID-19,” said Somanath’s sister.

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