The bodies of coronavirus victims "may be contagious", a coroner’s case has revealed.
The case shows that a forensic practitioner working in Bangkok most likely caught coronavirus from a dead patient. Sadly, the forensic practitioner later died of the virus.
The report was written on March 19, at which point just 272 people in Thailand had tested positive for the coronavirus.
In the report, the researchers, led by Won Sriwijitalai, explained: “Although patients may get the infection from workplace exposure or through spreading in the community, at the period of the occurrence of this case, the patients in Thailand are mostly imported cases and recording of local spreading in the community is limited.
“There is low chance of forensic medicine professionals coming into contact with infected patients, but they can have contact with biological samples and corpses.”
According to experts, it’s likely that a dead body could be contagious for days.
Speaking to Live Science, Dr Otto Yang, a microbiology expert at UCLA explained: “Absolutely, a dead body would be contagious at least for hours if not days.
”The virus will still be in respiratory secretions, and potentially still reproducing in cells that haven't yet died in the lungs."
Based on the findings, the researchers are urging professionals to take better precautions to protect themselves.
The report added: “At present, there is no data on the exact number of COVID-19 contaminated corpses since it is not a routine practice to examine for COVID-19 in dead bodies in Thailand. Nevertheless, infection control and universal precautions are necessary.
“Forensic professionals have to wear protective devices including a protective suit, gloves, goggles, cap and mask. The disinfection procedure used in operation rooms might be applied in pathology/forensic units too.”
