About 20 villagers living near a pagoda Kampong Chhnang province on May 3 protested the cremation of a deceased Covid-19 patient.

The protesters believed cremating the corpse at the Chrey Bak pagoda in Chrey Bak commune’s Chrey Bak village in Rolea B'ier district would put them at risk of contracting the virus.

District governor Yong Sao Vuthy told The Post that the deceased, a 58-year-old resident of Ronuk village in Kampong Leng district’s Tgngel commune, died while undergoing treatment at the provincial referral hospital.

“The body was still at the hospital. We went to prepare the crematorium as instructed, but then about 20 people came to protest, saying they feared contracting the virus. No matter what authorities said, they definitely did not agree. So, we decided to cremate the body elsewhere,” he said.

He said a working group will hold a meeting to decide where to cremate people killed by the disease. The meeting will be organised by officials from all communes within the district. A location far from village or near a mountain would be selected.

Sao Vuthy said this is the second Covid-19 death in Kampong Chhnang.