Health Secretary Francisco Duque confirmed that the remains of the first patient in the Philippines who died of a novel coronavirus (2019 nCoV) last week were not yet cremated.
At a Senate committee hearing on health and demography, Duque said crematorium operators were critical of cremating the 44-year-old Chinese patient.
Most of the operators who refused are Chinese.
Duque said the deceased patient was put in a body bag and was sealed.
The health secretary clarified earlier that the 2019-nCoV is no longer transmissible from the dead carrier’s body.
Earlier it was reported that the National Health Commission of China had to ‘ban’ any kind of funerals and similar activities to the corpses of those who died of nCoV.
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Crematoriums refuse to cremate remains of nCoV patient
He said the corpse should be cremated immediately as the number of infected patients continues to increase.
The deceased patient and a female Chinese female were first reported to have tested positive of nCov. Duque said they have spoken with a funeral service that agreed to cremate the patient.
Duque said some Chinese have said that the body should be buried or cremated, but that is suddenly changing.
The Chinese also have no apparent reason for backing out of the cremation.
The 44-year-old Chinese man has been dead for three days. The Chinese national died on Saturday and was recorded the first 2019-nCoV ARD death outside China.
The deceased’s partner, a 38-year-old woman, was the country’s first confirmed case of the virus. She is still at San Lazaro Hospital in Manila and in good condition, said Duque.
The woman will not be released from the hospital until she tests negative for the 2019-nCoV ARD virus.