HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has issued guidelines for handling the disposal of bodies of COVID-19 fatalities belonging to the Hindu and Christian faiths.

The additional guidelines, dated on Tuesday, have been prepared by the committee set up on April 1 by the state government for the purpose.

While there are guidelines in place since April 2, these have been applied largely to Muslim victims, in Telangana, where the death toll has touched 11. Although details of the victims' community are not divulged, it is understood that one of the 11 victims is a non-Muslim.

To avoid confusion, officials said that the state government opted to formulate separate guidelines for body disposal for each community.

Officials said that although specific guidelines have been issued for the different communities, the handling of dead bodies will essentially be the same in respect of all religions. In all cases, it is specified that packing and shifting of dead bodies to the burial ground will be done by designated persons in the hospital vehicles. Only 5 persons are allowed to visit the burial or cremation ground, no handling of bodies is allowed, and safe distance has to be maintained in all cases.

However, in accordance with religious tenets, Hindu victims are to be cremated, while Muslims and Christian COVID-19 victims will be buried as per their religious practices.

By Wednesday, the state had reported a total of 453 COVID-19 cases, of whom 45 were discharged after treatment while 11 persons had died.

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