'So many bodies piled up': Hong Kong funeral services overwhelmed by Covid

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HONG KONG — Traditional wooden coffins are running short in Hong Kong as authorities scramble to add mortuary space in the global financial hub's battle on Covid-19, which is swamping funeral parlours.

"I have never seen so many bodies piled up together," said funeral director Lok Chung, 37, who has been working round the clock, with about 40 funerals organised in March, up from roughly 15 in an average month.

Scenes of bodies stacked in emergency rooms next to patients have shocked many as places in mortuaries have filled up. Also running short are the traditional paper replicas of items, from cars to homes and other personal effects, that are burnt as offerings at Chinese funerals for the dead to use in the afterlife.

Housewife Kate, 36, said the March death of her father-in-law from Covid-19 took a huge emotional toll on the family, and added that her biggest regret was being unable to visit him in hospital. The six crematoriums now run almost round the clock by Ms Young's department perform nearly 300 cremations a day, or double the usual figure.

 

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