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It has been a difficult year ahead since the announcement of COVID-19 as a pandemic by the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO). Many countries including Malaysia have struggled to take urgent and aggressive measures to advise, detect, screen, test, isolate and treat their citizens in order to fight against the virus. All countries must strike a balance between protecting health, minimizing economic and social disruption and at the same time, preserving human rights which includes managing the dead with dignity and respect. The National Institute of Forensic Medicine (IPFN) Malaysia has been proactively engaging the various agencies involved in a concerted effort to ensure smooth flow in the management of the dead for all COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the outbreak in February 2020. This is in accordance with all existing guidelines and regulations vis-a-vis infection prevention and control in the country. However, new situations that arise during the pandemic are always challenging and dynamic. The COVID-19 crisis has uncovered a plethora of issues surrounding the margin of the Forensic Medicine fraternity. Therefore, this article highlights various emerging issues encountered by the IPFN and how they are resolved through good leadership to guide and direct operations and activities during the exponential rise of COVID-19 infection in Malaysia. In the provision of the management of the dead, it is of utmost importance to note that the humanitarian aspect needs to be emphasized even in times of an outbreak to give closure to the family and the opportunity to mourn their loved ones., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Competing Interests: The authors declared that they have no conflict of interest.

This study explores the practicability and usability of the cling film plastic wrap on the dead body with decomposition changes, whereby the feasibility of wrapping the remains to ensure the containment of the decomposition fluid within the cling film plastic wrap. Unknown and unclaimed dead bodies were used. Wrapping and preservation of human remains using the cling film plastic wrap could be the best operational practices for first responders rather than leaving bodies exposed on the disaster site, when the supplies of the cadaver body bags are inadequate. Thinking out of the box, the conventional way of using cadaver body bags to the cling film plastic wrap forms a new perspective in managing the dead and facilitating the human identification needs. New inventive idea of adopting the cling film plastic wrap as means of protecting the dignity of the dead person, could be the way forward in humanitarian forensic action., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.)