By Segun James
Following the congestions in mortuaries by non coronavirus-related corpses, Lagos state government has ordered that burials can now take place in the state.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu who said this Saturday during his 8th update on the Covid 19 pandemic, made it clear that such funerals must take place within the next two weeks after which the government may resort to mass burial of unclaimed bodies.
Sanwo-Olu said that even though funerals will be allowed, no parties or reception would be allowed before, during or after the burial.
The governor said that the reason why the government was allowing the burials was because they were not related to COVID-19 deaths and that most of them happened before the pandemic.
He disclosed that the mortuary congestion was due to the fact that most churches didn’t do funerals during the Lent period, but the lockdown had however contributed to this as families could not bury their dead.
He warned that not more than 20 persons should attend such burials even as he made it clear that they must all wear masks, which he said was now compulsory in the state.
In a related development, Sanwo-Olu has ordered the release of 209 inmates from various correctional centres in the state in order to decongest the centres in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
He said that the affected inmates were mostly those over 60 years of age, those who had less than six months to end their terms or had completed over 95 per cent of their terms.
