Covid-19 of Survival Decreases With the Time in the Dead Body, But there is No Time Limit to Declare that they are Not Infectious, Says icmr

Covid-19) is a respiratory disease and is spread mainly through aerosol, the icmr said while listing a series of frequently asked questions in its “Standard guidelines for the medico-legal autopsy in Covid-19 deaths in India by 2020” published on Tuesday.

Responding to a question about the protocol to follow for conducting an autopsy in a Covid-19 suspicion of a dead body with negative RT-PCR result, the icmr said, taking into account the relatively high rate of false-negative results from Covid-19 RT-PCR, each case has to be considered as a possible coronavirus infection case.

“Therefore, it is advisable for the non-invasive monitoring of the autopsy in these cases throughout the duration of the pandemic,” he said.

Asked if an invasive autopsy may be performed after the disinfection of the body surface area with a one percent hypochlorite or 70 percent of the alcohol solution, it is the source of the infection from a Covid-19 confirmed case is mainly of the generation of aerosol procedure of internal fluids of the body and the visceral organs.

Even the surfaces of the mucous membranes, such as those found in the nasal and oral cavities, gases or fluids expelled through natural orifices as a result of the compression cavities, which can occur during transport, they can be sources of transmission of the disease.

“Therefore, disinfection of surfaces does not provide protection against the Covid-19 during the autopsy,” the Indian Council of Medical Research (icmr) said.

The question of whether there is any risk of infection for the body of drivers if Covid-19 and not Covid bodies are kept in separate racks in the same cold chamber with the same compressor, he said that the chances of contact with infection is negligible if proper precautions are taken such as double-bagging of the body and of the handling with the proper personal protective equipment.

The icmr in addition, he said that there should be a dedicated hospital personnel for the transfer of said bodies to the morgue.

In case there is a shortage of staff at the morgue, the additional staff should be delegated to the transportation of the body from the hospital authorities.

The help of the NGOS and the department of social welfare can also be taken to address any type of problem of the workforce.

Asked what procedure should be adopted and both at the internal level of dissection is required if a Covid-19 confirmed or suspected patient dies due to an unnatural cause, it is said in these cases, certification of death must be done in coordination with the police and the body should be handed over to the family members, without dissecting internal.

In the cases in which they are treated, hospital records of cases as the research laboratory reports, reports of other diagnostic tests, including the treatment that gives, will give an additional documentary fund for correlation with the investigation and reach a reasonable conclusion about the cause of death and other related queries.

“Non-invasive autopsy technique as described in the guidelines should be used, if necessary to avoid the risk of spread of infection to the mortuary staff, police personnel and contamination of the morgue surfaces,” the icmr said.