ROURKELA: Despite testing negative for COVID-19, the family members and relatives of 42-year-old Lalmani of Bondamunda, who died of cancer at Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital, could not perform her last rites as per tradition. They watched from a distance as health workers, dressed in personal protective equipment cremated her body at the Vedvyas crematorium on Wednesday.  

A distant relative of the deceased, P Swamy said after she died, her family members were informed they would not be allowed to take the body home and the cremation would be performed by health workers. Lalmani’s 20-year-old, her two younger sisters and a handful of relatives were allowed to witness the cremation from a distance.

Swamy said though they complied with administration’s instructions, it was painful for the family to skip the post-death rituals at home and the crematorium.

A senior official of the district administration said even as Lalmani had tested negative, the precaution was taken as per guidelines to prevent any possibility of spread of the virus as the ward where she was admitted and the COVID-19 hospital are located in the same building.

He cited the example of a man from Swidihi in Lathikata who was cremated as per guidelines though he had died of reasons other than COVID-19.