"We could see the body but it was wrapped in plastic so we couldn't touch him," said Alexander, 52, a photographer in South Africa's coastal city of Cape Town. Cape Town's Western Cape province has recorded over 65 percent of South Africa's 52,991 coronavirus cases and more than three-quarters of its 1,162 deaths. Risk of catching the disease has prevented the city's Muslim community from burying their dead in line with Islamic tradition. Undertaker Ebriham Solomon said bodies had to be wrapped in a double layer of plastic, which he said could be quite upsetting for mourning family members. She regretted not being able to see her grandfather's body before he was buried by funeral workers rather than family, which she also found distressing.

Source: Standard Digital June 14, 2020 07:30 UTC