This was the grim scene where medics in hazmat suits had to bury a suspected Covid-19 victim by hand - because locals were afraid to lend them shovels.

The Covid-19 Task Force arrived after the man was believed to have died from the virus in a village in East Java, Indonesia, last Sunday (Aug 9).

Officers said the corpse was carried to a nearby cemetery but nobody in the area was willing to lend them hoes or shovels amid fears their tools could be infected.

Instead, they team in protective suits had to scrape the earth back over the body as it lay in the hole, which had already been dug.

A number of officers wearing white personal protective equipment were seen busy digging the ground using their hands.

"We were forced to use bare hands without any help from tools such as shovels or hoes," said an officer, whose name was not identified.

Indonesia has suffered 127,083 cases of Covid-19 and 5,765 deaths - one of the highest tolls in Asia.

The officer said residents around the burial site did not want to lend them their hoes in the Ambulu District of Jember Regency.

They were worried about catching the coronavirus, even though the dead person had not been confirmed as having the illness and the medics were waiting for test results.

Staff said the funeral process uses procedures according to the Covid-19 handling protocol.

"Even though the bodies buried were not confirmed to be positive for Covid-19, but they must be buried according to the Covid-19 protocol because the current condition is still in a pandemic," said the officer.

As a result of this incident, the funeral process took longer. It took the officers about 30 minutes to fill the grave with a length of 2.3 meters, a width of one meter and a depth of 1.5 meters.

The source added that officers did not carry shovels because they were used for burials at other locations.