Ian Begley and Eilish O'Regan
March 10 2020 2:30 AM
Funeral directors have been advised that any person who dies of coronavirus should be immediately cremated or buried without a funeral service.
The Irish Association of Funeral Directors has distributed a list of radical recommendations in the event of Covid-19 related deaths.
Speaking last night, a senior funeral director told the Irish Independent the association advised that any coronavirus victim who dies should be promptly laid to rest and their funeral service postponed to a later date.
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It also recommended that transport for families of the deceased, such as limousines and saloons, should not be provided and that funeral instructions should only be given to undertakers over the phone.
It is said that relatives of the deceased "should not be permitted to attend the funeral director's offices or funeral homes".
The deceased "should always be removed from the place of death in a body bag which is not reopened" and "removal vehicles should be hygienically cleaned after the removal of remains and all gloves and other disposable equipment should be disposed of safely," it said.
"The deceased should be removed to a designated area within the funeral directors' facilities (or those of an outsourced provider) - eg, an isolated cold room" and "the deceased should not be embalmed" but should instead "be placed in the selected coffin and the coffin closed".
Public gatherings "such as a church services, gatherings at funeral homes, residences, crematorium chapels, etc, should not take place," it said.
Meanwhile, GPs have been told to consider ending "walk-in" clinics and operate an appointment-only service in light of the coronavirus threat.
Patients are now to be quizzed on whether they have respiratory symptoms. If they have they will be risk-assessed to analyse if they could have the virus and deemed suitable for a test.
It's not possible to be tested in a GP surgery and HSE public health doctors are the only ones permitted to request one. The GP's surgery should schedule for the doctor or practice nurse to call back the patient and ask them the relevant questions, according to the Irish College of General Practitioners.
If the person with acute respiratory symptoms does not fall into the high-risk category, which includes recently returning from a region such as China or northern Italy with a high concentration of cases or contact with someone who had the virus, the doctors are told to discuss with HSE public health staff.
This is because of the recent emergence of people who caught the virus here with no obvious source.
Family doctors will try to assess and manage more patients using the phone or smartphone video link in order to cut down on person-to-person contact and surgery visits.
GPs have been told protective clothing is of "little value if hand hygiene is not followed".
