COVID-19: Akwa Ibom decries movement of corpses from Lagos into state amid lockdown

The government of Akwa Ibom state has decried smuggling of corpses from other states, chiefly from Lagos, into the state amid Nigerian government’s inter-state lockdown order.

The state government spoke through its Commissioner for Health, Dr Dominic Ukpong after another corpse being smuggled into the state through Ika Local Government Area (LGA) was intercepted.

Addressing the state COVID-19 Incident Management Committee (IMC) on Monday, Ukpong said that the corpse had been safely deposited in a mortuary pending the confirmation of its COVID-19 status.

He said that all the contacts that came with the ambulance transporting the corpse were being quarantined.

According to him, corpses being smuggled into the state when caught, would be buried in accordance with the protocol for the burial of an infected corpse.

He said it was accepted that in some traditions, it was mandatory to bury the dead in their homelands.

However, he said that the “current global war against the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow for such to be practicable.”

He said, “It is disheartening that despite the interstate lockdown, family members can risk such adventure because such trips usually require the use of bush paths in order to beat security checks on the highways”

Ukpong regretted that the movement of corpses was still happening despite his interaction with health commissioners in other states on the need to stop the act.

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He said the trend necessitated co-opting of community youths/ vigilantes to compliment the efforts of the police officers and other security personnel on the highways.

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