Beijing, February 2: China has ordered that people who have died due to the deadly novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China, should not be buried but cremated quickly. According to new trial regulations from China's National Health Commission (NHC), the country has banned funerals and other activities where friends and family would pay respects to the dead for deceased victims of the novel coronavirus. The Commission said after the death of patients with new crown pneumonia, no farewell ceremony of corpses and other forms of funeral activities shall be held.

The press release stated that if a foreigner in China, Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwanese died in China due to a new coronavirus-infected pneumonia, the remains must be cremated in accordance with the provisions of the "Communicable Disease Control Law". The cremated ashes can be transported out of the country according to the wishes of the deceased's family members.

"Remains of patients with new crown pneumonia from ethnic minorities must be cremated in situ in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases. After cremation, the ashes can be resettled according to national customs", the order read.

This is done to prevent the risk of disease transmission, in accordance with the "People's Republic of China Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases".  The new set of rules the disposal of remains comes after death toll due to to the virus mounted to 304 with 45 new fatalities. Reports inform that a total of 14,380 people have been infected in total.

The release further stated that in accordance with the principles of people-oriented timely cremation nearby, scientific and standardized disposal of the remains of patients with new coronary pneumonia will strengthen health protection and preventing the spread of disease risks to protect human health and social safety.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 02, 2020 10:45 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).