Coronavirus: Indian officials urge families to claim remains at mortuaries

The India Consulate in Dubai has asked families and employers to claim remains from mortuaries and report Covid-19 deaths without delay.

A statement from the consulate noted employers, sponsors and families had in some cases been slow to collect the remains of their loved-ones over recent weeks.

“In many cases the Consulate has seen undue delay on the part of employers and sponsors in completing the local formalities or even giving the information about death to the Consulate," the statement said.

"Particularly in the Covid-19 situation, this creates additional burden on mortuaries and government facilities.”

Prior to the pandemic, bodies of foreign residents were repatriated to allow families to bury their loved-ones in their home countries.

Today, however, bodies of Covid-19 victims must be buried or cremated in-country as part of measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

As of June 20, a total of 300 people have died from the virus in the UAE.

The Indian consulate stressed that bodies must be handled as per instructions provided by the UAE government.

“These steps are necessary to ensure dignified end to a departed soul,” said the consulate’s statement.

Employers and sponsors of Indian residents should report deaths immediately to the consulate’s emergency helpline and complete formalities for performing last rites.

Family and friends are also asked to inform the consulate or embassy of deaths.

Crematoriums in the UAE have faced a backlog due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has also caused delays in the cremation of people who have died from other causes. If remains go unclaimed, local authorities perform the burial.

Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

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Premier League-standard football pitch
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Innotech Profile

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Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari

Based: Muscat, Oman

Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies

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Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing

Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.

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Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 37')

Atletico Madrid 1 (Costa 39')

Man of the match Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao)

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.