Jakim sets up special team to handle Muslim remains due to Covid-19 outbreak

CORONAVIRUS | The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) has set up a special team to assist with the handling of the remains of Muslims in light of the rising number of deaths due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Jakim deputy director-general (policy) Hakimah Mohd Yusoff said the team has been briefed on the method to manage the remains based on the decision made by the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia (MKI) on March 15.

"They (the council) have agreed that the management of the remains of Covid-19 victims will be carried out according to the decision made during the 107th MKI Fatwa Committee meeting from February 10 to 11, 2015, on the handling of remains of Muslims suspected or confirmed to have contracted the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Malaysia," she said in a statement today.

There are 18 members of the special team comprising 12 men and five women and a coordinator from Jakim, main mosques under Jakim and the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi).

The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri had an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah on March 16 and His Majesty consented to the method being used in the Federal Territories.

The special team managed the remains of the seventh victim in Malaysia who succumbed to Covid-19 at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday.

The victim was a 57-year-old Malaysian man with a travel history to Vietnam, and who had been in contact with a patient who tested positive for Covid-19 from the "tabligh" cluster.

- Bernama