Abstract
The unanticipated outbreak of Coronavirus had proven detrimental to human existence. It had created waves of panic, anxiety, and fear among people hence facilitating stigmatization toward an infected person. This stigmatization further influences patients health-seeking behaviour due to the trust deficit in the public health system. The virus had placed the world in an impotent situation as people helplessly watched their loved ones pass away in the absence of effective treatment. Dead bodies are denied a dignified death due to mandatory guidelines prescribed by countries to control the pandemic. This article attempts to understand the process of stigmatization of Coronavirus and its mechanism of influencing the health-seeking behaviour of people. Moreover, the way this stigmatization, accompanied by fear and anxiety, led to the denial of having a dignified death in India.
Highlights
The Coronavirus cases are surging at an unprecedented scale across the world
Maddrell (2020) had rightly pointed out that as ‘if those frequently exposed to the virus are at risk of ‘acute viral loads’, so those who are exposed to a high frequency of traumatic death and/or personal crises are experiencing a high ‘emotional-viral-load’ (Maddrell, 2020, p.110)
A reported incidence highlighted that a dead body had to be preserved for two days by the family members due to delay in getting the COVID test report
Summary
The Coronavirus cases are surging at an unprecedented scale across the world. It results in escalating death rates with a much higher pace as many infected dead bodies are left isolated, lying unattended in houses, street and mortuary (Gray, 2020; Horowitz & Emma, 2020). Stigmatization, health seeking behaviour, death, crematorium and bereaved families Another challenge emerged out due to certain technicalities involved such as after the death of the COVID patient, it was mandatory to contact the higher authorities before performing the last rites of the deceased.
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