It took long twelve hours to see someone comes forward to help a family which lost one of the members with coronavirus symptoms despite seeking help from the neighbors.

Abul Hossain (45), a suspected COVID-19 patient, died in Debidwar Upazila of Cumilla on Tuesday night at Bagur village under Borkamta union of the Upazila, and his family had to sit 12 hours beside his corpse as no one in the neighbourhood came for condolence or further proceedings due to coronavirus panic.

Abul Hossain, son of late Syed Ali from West Bagur, was receiving treatment at home with cold, flu and other symptoms. He passed away on Tuesday night at around 10 pm.

Upon his death, his wife and children had to sit helplessly beside his body for the whole night as no one from his relatives or neighbourhood came to show their condolence or offered any help, as people being afraid of spreading of the virus.

Later the dead body was buried by Liton Sarkar, a local leader of Cumilla Zilla Shwecchashebok League. 

He, along with some others came to help the family at 10:30 am and performed all the necessary procedures and buried the body following proper rituals.

Speaking to the correspondent, Liton said, “People are not being able to express their condolences at a person’s demise, which is probably the least expected thing in humanity."

As Debidwar Upazilla has been labelled as a ‘Red Zone’ among the COVID-19 affected areas in the country, he said, people of this area are facing this type of unfortunate circumstances after the deaths of their beloveds.

To rescue the locals from this situation and help the people infected with COVID-19 in their burials, the Shwecchashebok League has formed a group of 101 volunteers with the leaders and workers, Liton said.