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Daily burials at Oddamavadi rise threefold

09 Aug 2021

  • Highest burials for a day recorded on Saturday 
  • Fourfold increase in bodies at Kandy Hospital morgue 
  • Crematorium facilities being expanded islandwide: DGHS
By Shahaen Vishak and Pamodi Waravita The average number of burials carried out daily at the Oddamavadi burial site for Covid-19 victims tripled in the past week, with the highest number of burials in a single day being recorded on Saturday (7). According to local government authorities, the number of burials per day had been 10 on average, but over the last week this had progressively increased to over 30 burials a day. The 34 burials of Covid-19 victims buried at the site on Saturday was the highest number for a day since burials commenced at the site in March. “Since the third wave, the number of burials have been steadily increasing and last week the daily average of burials tripled. Since March, 1,415 burials have been conducted here. Although initially only three acres was allocated for burials, two additional acres were allocated recently. Approximately 500 more burials can take place here,” officials told The Morning yesterday (8).  They added that although a majority of burials are deceased Muslims, families from all four religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, have sought to conduct last rites for their loved ones at the site. By mid-July, over 1,000 burials of deceased Covid-19 patients had been completed in Oddamavadi, according to the former Batticaloa District Parliamentarian Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana. At the time he said that approximately 946 Muslims had been buried there along with Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists. It was on 5 March that the Government commenced the burial of Covid-19 victims in the Soodupaththinachenai area in Oddamavadi, Batticaloa, and in the Irakkamam area in the Ampara District, reversing its controversial policy which mandated the cremation of the bodies of all those who fell victim to Covid-19. Meanwhile, the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena yesterday said that crematorium facilities are being expanded around the island as morgues in hospitals have been struggling to find storage space due to the surge in the number of Covid-19 deaths. “President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed all local government authorities to perform last rites for all bodies within the next two days,” said Dr. Gunawardena. The Morning learnt that the Kandy National Hospital had approximately 22 bodies in its morgue as at yesterday, a fourfold rise from the five or six bodies that are usually stored there per day. Similarly, the Colombo North Teaching Hospital (Ragama) had approximately 60 bodies in its mortuary on Saturday. However, officials said that cremations were being expedited to increase storage space in the mortuary. Sri Lanka is currently facing a severe spread of the highly transmissible Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of the Covid-19 virus. 2,815 new cases and 98 new deaths were recorded on 7 August due to the virus.  


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