Uerikua condemns Covid-19 corpse theft

GROOTFONTEIN – Otjozondjupa governor James Uerikua on Friday condemned the alleged theft of a Covid-19 positive corpse from a mortuary by some residents of the Osire Refugee camp last week.

James Uerikua in an interview with Nampa on Friday said the incident allegedly took place on Sunday afternoon when a group of Congolese refugees at the settlement broke into a mortuary through a window and removed the corpse of a fellow Congolese national who had died from Covid-19 complications.

Uerikua said the mortuary at Osire is never guarded, as nobody expects a ‘ normal person’ to break into a mortuary and steal a body.

He said the victim was a middle-aged man who died in the Otjiwarongo State Hospital on 15 September while waiting for his Covid-19 results, and his body was then transported to Osire mortuary on Saturday, 19 September. Uerikua said, later that Saturday afternoon, the results of the victim came out positive for Covid-19.

He said a team, comprising police officers, health workers and himself, travelled to Osire on 21 September to assess the situation and discuss the matter with the refugees; the majority said they do not believe the Covid- 19 pandemic exists.

“They told us that Covid-19 does not exist to them; therefore, they decided to touch the infected body with their bare hands at the mortuary,” he said.

The residents of the settlement also buried the victim themselves in a shallow grave at the settlement, said Uerikua, who added that a mass Covid-19 testing exercise will be conducted on Monday at the settlement, while arrests could also be made in connection with the transgression of Covid-19 protocols.

A total of six people had tested positive for Covid-19 at the settlement, all of whom have since recovered.

Os ire, situated approximately 110 kilometres south east of Otjiwarongo in the Otjozondjupa region, is home to about 5 000 refugees.