Before now, bereaved families always looked forward to burying their dead for them to rest in peace. This solemn rite appears to have eluded families in states under lockdown as most of the corpses in the mortuaries cannot be buried.
Thus, this is not the best of time for families who have lost their loved ones as the rejection of corpses in mortuaries, which began in Lagos, has swept over other states like a tidal wave.
From various parts of the country, came reports of overflow of corpses in morgues that have been stretched beyond their carrying capacity.
The accumulation of corpses in mortuaries began to rise after several state governments imposed restriction of movements and social distancing to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, the pandemic that has practically paralysed economic and social activities around the world, leading to the death thousands of people.
To curb the ravaging spread of the virus, several governments across the globe put their countries on lockdown. Here in Nigeria, state governments in turn forbade the assembly of more than 20 people in one location.
To ensure the new ritual of social distancing, they ordered people to stay-at-home and directed that markets be closed except for sales of basic foodstuff. To make the stay-at-home order effective, all activities that would entail the assembly of people such as religious gatherings, weddings, parties, sporting activities, event centres, offices, businesses, as well as burials and funeral ceremonies were banned.
But then human beings do not choose when they would die except in the case of suicide. As people began to kick the bucket, corpses started to accumulate leading to the situation now confronting mortuaries in some parts of the country, where it is not the practice to bury dead relations within few hours after death.
