Egypt’s Grand Mufti slams refusal to bury dead COVID-19 patients as ‘religiously rejected’

Egypt’s Grand Mufti slams refusal to bury dead COVID-19 patients as ‘religiously rejected’
Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam has released a fatwa supporting the burial of dead COVID-19 patients. (File/AFP)
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Updated 12 April 2020
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Egypt’s Grand Mufti slams refusal to bury dead COVID-19 patients as ‘religiously rejected’

Egypt’s Grand Mufti slams refusal to bury dead COVID-19 patients as ‘religiously rejected’
  • Locals of a village in southern Egypt have decried the burial of a female doctor who died of COVID-19
  • Egypt has a virus toll of 1939 as of Saturday

DUBAI: Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam has sought to end the public outcry about burying dead COVID-19 patients in some villages in the country, local media Egypt Today reported on Saturday.

Allam released a fatwa (Islamic decision) indicating refusing the burial of the bodies is “religiously rejected,” calling those who died of the virus martyrs.

Locals of a village in southern Egypt have decried the burial of a female doctor who died of COVID-19, fearing the virus could spread even further.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian health ministry has announced 145 new coronavirus cases – all of them Egyptians – in the country, bringing toll to 1939.

Eleven people have recently died of the virus, the ministry said, upping death count to 146 in the country.

The ministry added recoveries in Egypt have reached 426 on Saturday, while the number of patients who had been retested for COVID-19 and had received negative results has reached 542.