Burial reprieve looms, gravediggers may get grants
Published:Tuesday | March 9, 2021 | 12:25 AM
The Government is contemplating providing financial grants to stakeholders in the funeral industry as the two-week ban on burials commenced on Monday.
Local Government and Rural Development Minister Desmond McKenize did not say how much money might be doled out to gravediggers.
Meetings between the Government and funeral directors started last Friday as there was uproar over the ban, which was imposed to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Funerals and burials have been fingered as superspreader events, with the authorities claiming that there have been flagrant breaches of gathering protocols, which up to January stood at 15 persons.
“The other area we have been discussing [for which we will advance discussions] on Thursday is the burial and the cremation of bodies that are in an advanced state of decomposition,” McKenzie said at a Jamaica House press briefing.
Indigent persons who have died in state custody may be among those being contemplated to be given the green light for burial.