COLOMBO, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government has announced that it will reconsider a decision it had taken in March to cremate all those who die from COVID-19 in the island country and a government-appointed committee will meet this week to discuss the issue, local media reported here Wednesday.
The Sri Lanka government said in March that it would not grant permission for COVID-19 victims to be buried following medical advice received at that time.
Further explaining the situation, Sri Lanka's Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi informed parliament on Tuesday that the decision to only allow for cremation was based on the advice of medical experts who gave the government a scientific analysis of the situation at the time as in March it was an unknown virus and there was a need to study it further.
However, she said a committee appointed in this regard will meet this week to reconsider this decision.
The number of COVID-19 deaths in Sri Lanka rose to 23 on Tuesday evening after two deaths were reported during the day, statistics from the health ministry showed here.
The country has seen a surge in the number of COVID-19 patients in recent weeks after two new clusters were detected in Minuwangoda on the outskirts of capital Colombo and another from a fish market in Peliyagoda in Colombo.
Sri Lanka's Western Province, which includes Colombo, remains under a curfew to prevent a further spread of the infection.
Till Wednesday morning, the total number of COVID-19 cases rose to 11,744, out of which 5,581 had recovered and been discharged from hospitals. Enditem
