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HomeMedico-LegalNew death certificate requirement of test for coronavirus

New death certificate requirement of test for coronavirus

A Sunday Times report says the funeral industry is in turmoil over a Health Department instruction that anyone who dies of natural causes outside hospital must be tested for COVID-19 before a death certificate can be issued. Undertakers say the directive, intended to improve COVID-19 mortality statistics, will delay burials and pose health risks because a body cannot be buried or cremated without a death certificate.

One of the industry’s concerns is that bodies might have to remain in family homes for at least a day before being tested. But the department reportedly told the Sunday Times the tests could be done at undertakers’ premises.

Department spokesperson Popo Maja said doctors taking samples would be paid by the state if families of the deceased were indigent. “The instruction comes into effect immediately. It does not prevent an undertaker from removing a body to a mortuary once an emergency services official has certified death. It is not a requirement to have the results before burial,” he said.

[link url="https://times-e-editions.pressreader.com/@nickname11468100/csb_TPpo_OHAiOapNFF39zJi-iXT-BrVSsUtNlpl0TNKOOEPzrflzp581ZcDXLHNCzqX"]Full Sunday Times report (subscription needed)[/link]

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