Handling of Cadavers in a Mortuary amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory distress syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). This new disease is a challenge for the managers of health care facilities and mortuaries. It has impacted the practice of whole medical community. Though there is literature available on route of transmission of virus and time span for which virus is active on surfaces but there is no data available on how long the virus lives in and is active on the surface of a dead body. Thus, the health care professionals who handle cadavers and their specimens should use professional judgment to determine if a decedent had signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 during life and if autopsy is mandatory. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) have issued guidelines on dead body management and collection of postmortem specimens which should be observed in mortuary area and laboratories to limit the spread of disease among health care workers.

Keywords

• dead bodies
• mortuary
• covid-19
• health care professionals