Grieving families in Buikwe exhume bodies of Covid-19 victims for ‘proper burial rites’

Local leaders in Buikwe District are concerned about increasing reports of grieving families exhuming bodies of Covid-19 victims under the guise of giving their loved ones a decent send off.

Mr Pontian Kiwanuka, the case management officer on the district taskforce committee on Covid-19 said that some families have started exhuming bodies of their relatives to purportedly carry out proper burial rites.

"Some people in Buikwe District had to exhume the dead bodies that our health workers buried. They say that the bodies were buried without performing some rituals, so, they removed the bodies and cut off the hair. These beliefs are still here in Buikwe. We have put means of burial guidelines for all the people who die of Covid-19," Dr Kiwanuka said.

Leaders threaten with arrests

However, Ms Jane Frances Kagaayi, the Buikwe RDC said they plan to intensify their sensitization efforts about the dangers of exhuming bodies of Covid-19 victims.

"We got reports that people in Nyenga division in Njeru are exhuming bodies for rituals. We are going to put a van that will go around sensitizing people about the dangers of exhuming bodies for ritual practices," Ms Kagaayi said.

Those found exhuming bodies of Covid-19 victims will be arrested, according to the RDC.

“We are going to arrest whoever is found exhuming dead bodies because the law does not permit exhuming bodies," she said.

Unrealistic case figures

In a related development, a section of local leaders in the district said they are concerned about what they described as fake results of Covid-19 cases in the district that are being reported by the ministry of health.

Ms Betty Nankindu, the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) said the daily results published by the ministry official do not reflect what’s on ground.

"What the ministry is reporting is completely different from what is on the ground. When I was reading the figures of Covid-19 cases reported on June 28, 2021 they showed that we only had one case of Covid-19, yet over 30 people tested positive on that day. As a district, we are having a very big burden of Covid-19 but the cases are not reflected by the ministry. They should find better tools for recording the results," Ms Nankindu said while addressing the Buikwe District taskforce on Covid-19 last Friday.

The meeting had been convened to find a way forward on how the registration of the vulnerable people who are yet to receive relief funds would be carried out.

More Ugandans test positive

Meanwhile, the ministry of health on Wednesday said Uganda’s virus cases had risen to 84,979 after 425 more people tested positive for Covid-19.

At least 17 more people have succumbed to Covid-19 as virus deaths on July 5, 2021 rose to 2,012 since March last year when the pandemic was first confirmed in the country.

So far 1,027, 036 vaccine doses have been administered with only 1,367, 622 tests conducted since the outbreak of the pandemic, in a country whose population is above 40 million people.

Since March last year, 57,964 people have recovered from the virus with 1,072 active case admitted to different health facilities around the country.