LOOK: Monks wear PPE suits to conduct funeral rituals

Via The Nation/Asia News Network

BANGKOK — Photos of Buddhist monks wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) suits while chanting at a funeral have gone viral on Thai social media since last week.

Pholkrit Kaewmontri, a monk from Hat Yai Nai temple in Songkhla province, posted on his Facebook page on Sunday that he and other monks from the temple were in those photos.

“A young couple aged around 20 came to me and asked if they could hold a funeral for the wife’s father who had died of Covid-19 at the temple,” he said.

“They said they have nowhere else to go as other temples had rejected them, while her mother was still undergoing treatment at a hospital.”

Pholkrit said he contacted the province’s public health office and was instructed to wear PPE suits during the funeral to prevent the virus from spreading.

“The funeral was closely supervised by public health officials, who also carried out the cremation while no one was allowed near the crematorium,” he added.

On Sunday, Songkhla province reported 51 new Covid-19 cases, taking cumulative cases in the province to 454, of whom 443 patients are being hospitalized, 10 have recovered and one person has died.