Body-snatching families risk catching coronavirus

Grieving Indonesians are snatching back the bodies of family members who died of coronavirus, so they can be buried in line with religious practice – despite the dead still potentially being contagious. Indonesia has now recorded 54,010 coronavirus cases and 2754 deaths, though experts believe that because of low testing rates the true number of infections is substantially higher. The government has issued strict rules, endorsed by the Ulema Council, for the burial of people suspected or confirmed to have died from coronavirus. The rules require health workers to take charge of the bodies, which are still washed and bathed, but then wrapped in plastic or placed in a body bag, to prevent the spread of the infection. An Ulema Council fatwa states that many typical burial rites can be skipped because of the pandemic.