The body of a coronavirus patient was kept inside a freezer by his family members in Kolkata for at least 48 hours

Kolkata: The body of a coronavirus patient was kept inside a freezer by his family members in Kolkata for at least 48 hours as no help came from the authorities to cremate it.

The 71-year-old man, who had breathing trouble, died on Monday at his home on Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani in the central part of the city, as per the sources.

CoronavirusThe doctor he had visited on Monday had asked him to undergo coronavirus tests, which he did. However, his situation deteriorated after returning home and he died in the afternoon, a family member said.

The doctor, after being informed, visited the man's apartment wearing a PPE. But he refused to issue a death certificate saying that it was a Covid-19 case and advised the family members to contact the Amherst Street police station, under which the area falls.

The police directed the family to contact the local councillor. "But there too we did not receive any help and we were asked to get in touch with the state health department,” he said.

"We even made several calls to the helpline given to us by a person when we called up the health department, but nobody responded," another family member said.

Unable to conduct the last rites, the family members contacted several mortuaries, but they too refused to keep the body after hearing of the circumstances of the man's death.

corona virusThe family members then managed to procure a freezer to preserve the body till the last rites.

The test results on Tuesday night confirmed Covid-19. Then, on Wednesday morning, we got calls from the health department and told them everything, he said.

Within an hour, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) employees reached the apartment and took away the body for cremation, the family member said.