COVID-19 surge leaves bodies piled up at mortuary in Chhattisgarh
Durg, a district in Chhattisgarh, is in the middle of a major crisis due to an unprecedented spike in coronavirus cases in the past few weeks. It is the worst-hit district in the state and dead bodies continue to pile up at a local morgue as 38 people have reportedly died in the last seven days there. Here are more details on this.
Morgue has 8 freezers but 27 bodies
The local mortuary, situated in a 500-bed government hospital, is equipped with only eight freezers but currently has 27 bodies. Further, the district's health infrastructure is dwindling as more than 6,000 have been infected with the virus in the last week. Four to five people are dying of COVID-19 every day in the area, doctors said.
Lockdown to come into effect on Tuesday
Similar scenes can also be witnessed at a local crematorium, where grieving relatives dressed in PPE suits have been performing the last rites of those who succumbed to the fatal virus. Now, the district administration is reportedly looking for other locations to bury the bodies of the deceased. Meanwhile, the proposed week-long lockdown in the district will come into effect on Tuesday.
We are probing this, says Chief Medical Superintendent, Durg
"We have been informed about dead bodies piling up in the mortuary...we are probing this," Dr. PR Balkishor, the Chief Medical Superintendent of Durg, told NDTV. He also highlighted the shortage of medical staff members in the area, saying they may have to shift all health workers to COVID-19-related services. "We are trying to withdraw non-COVID-19 services," he informed the news channel.
India reported over 89K cases yesterday
Chhattisgarh is one of the states and Union Territories that the central government has marked among the worst-hit in the current wave of the coronavirus. However, not only Chhattisgarh, several states across India have been witnessing a worrying surge in coronavirus infections. In fact, the country on Friday reported more than 89,000 fresh cases, pushing the nationwide tally to nearly 1.24 crore.
