JAIPUR: Around 21 persons lost their lives at a village in Rajasthan's Sikar district allegedly after the burial of a Covid victim, whose body was brought from Gujarat, without following any Covid protocols.
The incident was reported recently from Kheerva village in Sikar, the Assembly constituency of Rajasthan Congress chief and state Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara.
Officials said that the corpse was brought from Gujarat and around 21 people, who came in contact with the body, lost their lives in the days after the final rites were performed in the village.
According to the officials, the Covid victim's infected body was brought to the village on April 21 and over 100 people attended the funeral which was conducted without following the Covid guidelines.
The body was taken out of the plastic bag and many people had touched it during the burial, they said.
However, Lakshmangarh sub-divisional officer Kulraj Meena said that out of the 21 deaths, only 3-4 deaths occurred due to Covid-19.
"The other deaths have been reported from the older age group. We have collected samples of 147 members of families where deaths have been reported to check whether it is a case of community transmission, " Meena told the media.
Meena and other officials visited the village after receiving the report along with a medical team which directed for immediate sanitisation of the village. Medicine kits were also distributed to cure the other infected people.
Sikar district collector Aviral Chaturvedi said that officials visited the village and made the people aware of the fact that all social gatherings, including for last rites, should follow the proper Covid protocols. Door-to-door survey was also conducted to know the actual situation, he said,