Omicron latest updates: India steps up operation to detect new variant
Two Indian families have been forced to relive the trauma of losing their loved ones to Covid-19 after they discovered their bodies had not been cremated but were rotting in a hospital mortuary for a year-and-a-half.
Muniraju, 67, and Durga Sumithra, 40, succumbed to the coronavirus in July 2020 — at the peak of India's devastating first wave of infections — while undergoing treatment at a government-run hospital in Bangalore city in southern Karnataka state.
As the number of cases in India surged and a deluge of Covid-infected patients overwhelmed the country's healthcare system, municipal corporations and hospitals took over the cremation of victims.
Citing a risk of infection, the authorities did not hand over the bodies of Muniraju and Sumithra to their families, who were informed that the bodies had been cremated by hospital and municipal staff.
The families received a shock this week when police informed them that a housekeeping staff found the decomposed bodies while cleaning the hospital’s old mortuary.
“We got a call from the police and were told that my father-in-law’s body was in the mortuary. It was shocking because we were told that his body was cremated and we had been even given a death certificate by the hospital,” said Sathish Kumar, 48, Muniraju’s son-in-law.
“We were shattered by his death last year but finding his body in a rotten state is beyond painful,” Mr Kumar told The National.
For Sumithra’s elder sister Sujhata, the development has been devastating.
Sujhata said her sister was sick for days and, after a frantic search, found a hospital bed on June 28. She died four days later.
Sumithra had lost her husband to liver failure in 2019 and was living with her two teenage daughters who moved in with Sujhata when she went into hospital.
“I couldn’t even see her body last year and now we have found her rotten body. She ... was severely ill but we couldn’t get a bed easily,” said Sujhata, 50.
“They told us they can’t give us her body because it can infect us and now after 16 months, we found her rotten body. Her two daughters are in disbelief,” she told The National.
The families have voiced their dismay over the negligence but are yet to file an official complaint, police said.
“We have launched an investigation into the case. A postmortem and other legal formalities were completed and the bodies were handed over to the families for cremation," said Prashant, a police officer at Rajajinagar Police Station, Bangalore.
"The families are yet to file an official complaint with us,” he told The National.
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The lowdown
Bohemian Rhapsody
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee
Rating: 3/5
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Destroyer
Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan
Rating: 3/5
UAE release: January 31
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
bundesliga results
Mainz 0 Augsburg 1 (Niederlechner 1')
Schalke 1 (Caligiuri pen 51') Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Miranda og 81')
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
Price: Dh375,000
On sale: now
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
