Coronavirus Oman: Heart-wrenching stories from Al Amerat Graveyard

As the death toll of COVID-19 patients in Oman increases, the Al Amerat Graveyard has been allocated to be the final resting place for their remains.

Photo credit: Al Wisal

Save for two fatalities in North Al Batinah Governorate, the majority of COVID-19 victims in Oman have been buried in Muscat Governorate’s Al Amerat Graveyard, with the government setting up a number of regulations and best practices to follow for the cleansing and interment of human remains that carry the novel coronavirus.

Speaking to Y’s sister station Al Wisal, Issa bin Sultan Al Shaibi, an Omani undertaker who works at the cemetery said that the facility does not allow family members of the deceased to get close to the grave-site.

As COVID-19 victims are interred, families “can only see their loved ones from a two-metre distance,” he said. “I felt sad when I saw a group of brothers asking me to get a closer look at their father.”

Al Shaibi added that the brothers were not allowed to see him even during his time in hospital, making goodbyes in the time of COVID-19 all the more heart-wrenching.

He explained to Al Wisal that there are fundamental differences between making arrangements for the burial of an uninfected body and that of a COVID-19 victim.

“Family members are not even allowed to enter the washing room where the body gets cleansed before burial,” Al Shiabi stated, adding that burying a loved one with COVID-19 is an extremely emotional and difficult process for all involved.

Source: Al Wisal

(Also read: Oman: Here’s a breakdown of cases among Muscat Governorate Wilayats affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.)

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