Karachi morgues closed over coronavirus fears

KARACHI: Mortuaries across the city were closed on Sunday after it was suspected that two bodies brought to an Edhi morgue were of people who had died from the coronavirus. 

"The morgues have been closed over fears that the coronavirus will spread from them," said a city administration official. 

A representative of the Edhi Home office located at Sohrab Goth spoke to Geo News and confirmed that orders of coffins and caskets had been suspended. Ramzan Chhipa said that his organisation had closed its mortuaries temporarily in accordance with the safety precautions against the coronavirus. 

"We don't want the virus to be transmitted to a volunteer and from him, to spread to the rest of the city," he said. 

The closing of mortuaries across the city has caused further problems for the people of Karachi. The coronavirus and Sindh government's lockdown has already made life difficult for denizens. Grave-diggers have also disappeared from graveyards owing to the pandemic and the lockdown. 

Grave-diggers have expressed the fear of the virus being transmitted to them. "The problem of grave-diggers not being found these days is a problem," admitted the director of graveyards. 

On the other hands, citizens have complained of not finding a grave to bury their loved ones owing to the pandemic.