NEW DELHI — It has been almost a year since he died but Dr Simon Hercules is yet to find his final resting place. The Catholic neurosurgeon, who died of Covid-19 in Chennai on April 19 last year, was interred in one of the city’s non-Christian burial grounds.
This happened because an ambulance carrying his body was denied entry at a Christian cemetery that night by a crowd of fearful and angry locals. They believed his burial would spread coronavirus in the neighborhood.
This despite a March 2020 advisory from the World Health Organization stating there was no evidence of any person becoming infected from exposure to bodies of individuals who had died from Covid-19.
Dr Her…
Keep on reading: Family of Indian doctor who died from COVID-19 seeks reburial a year after hasty funeral