An Indian expatriate who contracted and died from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome corona virus, or MERS COV, during his stay in Saudi Arabia was brought back to his country, but his Family refused to receive his remains in fear of contracting the deadly disease themselves. MERS COV is a viral respiratory disease that comes with serious complications and is transmittable by air.
The victim, Dasharati Sattaih, was working with a maintenance company in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia where he was frequently assigned Jobs in several hospitals. Reports say that Sattaih contracted the virus while he was on the job, and finally succumbed to the disease on June 20. Arrangements to return his body to his native Indian state of Telangana are already underway but, although the victim's employer has already made the necessary arrangements on their end, his family did not want to complete the formalities that would finalize his repatriation because they had apparently been misinformed that they would be able to contract the disease if they touch the body. As a result, the remains of Sattaih are still unclaimed in the morgue.
The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome corona virus was first identified in 2012 with the cases identified in Saudi Arabia. Since then, it's presence has also been identified in different parts of the region including neighboring countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and some parts of Europe. Recently, Saudi Arabia government has come under fire, receiving criticism from international health experts about the way that it is handling the disease. The contagious virus appears to not be contained and has now spread across the Middle East, in Asia, and the United States. To date, there is a reported 300 people who have fallen victim to the deadly virus out of the more than 700 cases that were documented within the Gulf region.