Late Mufti Tested Positive for Virus But Ingush Officials Don’t Count Him as Victim of Pandemic

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 12 – For whatever reason, the Ingush health ministry is not including the late Mufti Abdurakhman Martazanov as a victim of the pandemic even though doctors announced that when he was hospitalized, he tested positive for the coronavirus, yet another example of the ways the real numbers of victims and the reported numbers are diverging.

            As of today, the official number of infections in Ingushetia reached 34, with six of them in serious condition in hospitals, but Martazanov is not among them, according to the Kavkaz-Uzel news agency (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/348257/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/348249/).

            The mufti was buried late yesterday. His body was prepared in the hospital rather than at home because of his infection. Those who prepared the body wore special protective clothing, and the funeral, at his teip cemetery in Nazran, was attended by a minimum number of mourners, all wearing masks and keeping their distance (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/348240/ and kavpolit.com/articles/v_ingushetii_pohoronili_muftija_abdurahmana_martaz-38581/).