COVID fear: Three journos perform last rites after villagers deny cremation in Odisha's Ganjam

As the fear of coronavirus spread has gripped the nation, the dead body of a retired headmaster, Pitambar Padhi, hailing from Odisha's Ganjam district was ignored by the relatives and villagers. Noticing the indifference by society, three journalists and a local MLA decided to perform the last rites.

Brahmapur (Odisha):The world is witnessing scary moments as near and dear ones are refusing to perform last rites of their family members fearing of Covid-19. As the fear of coronavirus spread has gripped the nation, the dead body of a retired headmaster, Pitambar Padhi, hailing from Odisha's Ganjam district was ignored by the relatives and villagers. When the wife of the deceased asked the neighbours to complete the funeral, they locked the doors of their houses.

According to the reports, Padhi was suffering from cough and fever for the last 15 days.

Padhi has two sons who have settled abroad. As the international flights are barred, they were unable to fly back and perform the last rites of their father.

Noticing the indifference of the locals and relatives, three journalists- Meghnad Das, Shankar Pradhan, Ajit Pand and a local MLA- Balaji Pradhan decided to perform the last rites.

Following the Health Ministry guidelines, four of them wore a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and performed the last rites of the retired headmaster.

The journo while speaking to ETV Bharat said that the reason behind such fear is lack of awareness towards measures that can prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Odisha recorded a biggest single-day surge of 1,264 Covid-19 positive cases, taking the total number of positive cases to 21,099 in the state, said the health department on Thursday.

Ganjam, worst affected district in the state, also recorded the highest single-day spike of 540 cases. Khurda reported 137 cases followed by Rayagada (84), Gajapati (74), Nayagarh (61) and Sundargarh (60).

The number of active cases in the state rose to 7,205 while 13,749 patients have recovered so far.