Dr. Makur Matur Kariom File Photo

The high-level task force on COVID-19 says it is facing resistance from family members in the burial of those who died of coronavirus.

Early this month, the taskforce announced that victims of coronavirus would be buried by trained healthcare workers, not family members to avoid infection among communities.

But according to the taskforce, families of those who died of Covid-19 still want to bury the dead by themselves.

“We are getting resistance from members of the family, what we do at the moment is to try our best,” said  Dr. Makur Koriom, the Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health.

“We disinfect them and put them back in body bags, sealed so that it is not opened anymore. In that course the risk of infection coming back from the deceased is reduced to almost zero.”

However, Dr. Makur says the risk of community transmission is still high.

“That is actually the main reason why we felt that burial should be left to be managed by trained people because as people crowd during the burial and at the funeral side is likely, easy that to pass infection as from one to another.”

So far South Sudan has a total of 806 cases with 6 recoveries and 8 deaths.