Cagayan de Oro health teams prepare a disinfectant solution that will be used on Saturday, March 14, 2020. Officials here have ordered a city-wide disinfection in all places of prayers following the death of Patient No. 40, the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Mindanao. | Photo by Froilan Gallardo
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Patient No. 40, the first recorded COVID-19 case in Mindanao, who died at a government hospital in this city on Friday evening, would be given a Muslim burial, officials said.
Dr. Adriano Suba-an, Department of Health Region 10 director, said Patient No. 40, a 54-year old Muslim, would be given an Islamic funeral instead of the World Health Organization protocols of cremating corpses, who died of infectious diseases.
Suba-an said they would be foregoing the WHO protocols in deference to the religious beliefs of the dead man’s family.
Some Islamic burial practices not allowed
He said, however, that they had asked the family that some Islamic burial practices would not be allowed like the traditional washing of the corpse.
Suba-an also said they had asked the family to do away with the traditional gathering of relatives and friends offering their collective prayers for the dead.
“We have to ask them to do away with these practices to prevent the spread of the virus which they agreed,” Suba-an said.
Suba-an said the corpse would be enclosed with a body bag instead of the metal casket or cremation that are required by the WHO.
“We have to do away with cremation and metal caskets because Islam does not allow that,” he said.
Suba-an said they assured the family that the DOH would follow the Islamic tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours.
Patient No. 40’s cause of death
Read more: Coronavirus patient in Cagayan De Oro dies
Patient No. 40 died of Acute respiratory distress syndrome resulting to acute kidney injury early Friday evening at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center in this city.
He is the sixth person to have died due to the COVID-19 illness in the country./dbs