The Cabinet of Ministers consented to the joint proposal forwarded by the Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitution Reforms and the Foreign Affairs and the Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development Ministers’ apology on behalf of the Government, to all the communities affected as a consequence of compulsory cremation policy during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
The Cabinet of Ministers has also approved another joint proposal presented by the Justice, Prison affairs and Constitution Reforms and Foreign Affairs Ministers to instruct the Legal Draftsmen to prepare a draft for the introduction of new law on burial or cremation of dead persons on religious discretion.
Cabinet Spokesman Mass Media Minister Dr.Bandula Gunawardhana said that as stipulated in the guidelines published by the Health Ministry on the Clinical Management of COVID-19 cremation was recommended as a methodology for the disposal of bodies of the persons who died due to the COVID-19 virus.
“Accordingly, 276 bodies of Muslim persons who had passed away as to the virus were cremated and in 2021 February, permission was granted to bury the dead with strict restrictions,” sources said.
The decision created displeasure among the various religious groups and human right activists especially Muslims. Studies made in this respect have confirmed that the faeces and the urine are the primary source of transmission of the virus but not with the safe burial.Therefore, in order to prevent the occurrence of such conditions in future, attention has been drawn to introduce a law, to select the burial or cremation of the dead at their discretion. It has been seen that introduction of new laws is appropriate to donate the bodies to the Medical Faculty, if necessary.
In July 2021, a study was commenced by the Water Supply Ministry with the assistance of the Jayewardenepura University to identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus in aquatic environments in Colombo and Kandy including the river water, the water released from the hospitals, other quarantine places and other potential places where waste water was discharged. It was revealed in these studies that there is no virus in the surface water.
A second study was also completed in March 2024 by the China – Sri Lanka joint research and Demonstration Center for water technology under the Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development Ministry that investigated the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus to water resources including the ground water and it was confirmed that faeces and the urine are the primary source of the transmission of the virus but not with the safe burial.
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