Bloomberg: Crematoriums overflow in China due to high death rate from coronavirus

Due to the serious epidemiological situation, crematoria are overcrowded throughout China. About it writes Bloomberg, citing eyewitnesses and funeral service workers.

Despite the PRC government claiming 12 deaths from covid, the true number of deaths is unknown. China’s coronavirus death toll could rise from 9,000 a day to 25,000 by the middle of the month, according to analysts at the British agency Airfinity, due to an increase in the number of trips on Lunar New Year’s Eve.

At the same time, funeral directors in Shanghai and Beijing said that crematoriums do not close at night, and the next free date for cremation can only be booked in mid-January. According to one of Bloomberg’s interlocutors, “the whole system is now paralyzed.”

For example, in one of the Longhua crematoria, more than 500 bodies are cremated daily, and relatives of those who died from the coronavirus are given only five to ten minutes to say goodbye. Despite the fact that the crematorium has introduced an online cremation booking system, it is currently impossible to name the nearest date when it will be possible to say goodbye to the deceased and receive his ashes. “First you need to get in line,” said the crematorium employee.