A Standard Operative Procedure for Safe-handling of Remains and Wastes of COVID-19 Patients

Background

Handling and disposal of the remains of the dead during the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) are one of the most important and demanding aspects for the health care systems globally. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus strain (a positive sense single stranded RNA virus)–severe acute respiratory syndrome virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Emerging evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 has high infectivity (Atkinson and Petersen, 2020). The remains and wastes of COVID-19 patients can be a potential source of the virus exposure to the healthcare professionals, hence should be handled with adequate precaution. It is important as the health care system has to ensure that the dead body of a COVID-19 patient should not become a source of the infection, and demanding because of the varied religious beliefs and cultural practices that are associated with the way of disposing the dead body around the globe. In order to enable efficient handling of the remains and wastes of COVID-19 patients by the healthcare professionals, a stepwise protocol of standard operative procedures (SOPs) is essential. The emphasis should be on making the SOPs comprehensive enough for easy interpretation and application.

A recent report (Sriwijitalai and Wiwanitkit, 2020) regarding the death of a forensic practitioner working in Bangkok, Thailand after contracting the virus from dead COVID-19 patient indicated the risk of transmission of the virus via dead bodies. This incidence has called for a protective protocol for handling the remains and wastes of the COVID-19 patients. Institutions like WHO (World Health Organization), CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA), Department of Health of different governments country wise (such as Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, MoHFW, Government of India; Department of Health, Hong Kong), etc. have laid down the protocols regarding the handling and disposal of the dead during COVID-19 (References 3-6). Though these protocols do elaborately explain the procedure for the same but are often difficult to interpret, and hence the application becomes inconvenient.

Here we have provided a set of instructions to be carried out in a sequential manner for the handling of remains and wastes of the COVID-19 patients providing additional details for precautions and safety measures, protecting gears and disinfecting materials. This protocol will help healthcare professionals taking quick on-spot decisions and avoiding exposure risks while handling the remains and wastes of COVID-19 patients.