China followed one of the most stringent anti-Covid regimes for the longest period of time and yet the country is seeing a spike in Covid cases leading to global concern. In Beijing, residents reportedly face long waiting times at funeral homes to secure the services of their deceased relatives, as the city struggles with a rising death toll caused by COVID-19.
According to workers at two funeral homes in Beijing, the number of people wanting to cremate their deceased relatives has increased significantly, Reuters reported.
This week, security personnel were deployed at the entrance to a designated COVID-compliant crematorium in Beijing. Reporters from Reuters were able to see several hearses and workers wearing hazmat suits inside the facility.
Some residents resorted to using their own cars to transport the deceased bodies of relatives to the funeral homes. Workers at a funeral home in western Beijing said that the backlog has prompted some people to ditch their hearses. The fee for the funeral service also exceeded as all-in-one funeral service packages advertised in the city.
A banker in Beijing told the news agency that due to the backlog, her family had to pay almost 20,000 Yuan to have the body of a deceased relative transported to a funeral home.
Moreover, a Reuters witness said that a large police presence was seen at a crematorium in the Tongzhou district of Beijing on Wednesday. The facility was full of hearses and had a steady stream of people entering.
Nevertheless, the cold winter in Beijing is also known to trigger a spike in the number of elderly deaths making it difficult to determine the exact lethality of COVID-19.
On the other hand, China’s official death due to Covid-19 figures on Dec. 20 was relatively low, with only five new cases reported the previous day. Officials explained that the deaths were only caused by respiratory failure and pneumonia.
However, many people on China’s social media platforms, including Weibo, have expressed their concerns about the country’s suspiciously low death rate. The local government and the country’s health commission did not respond to their inquiries regarding the rise in deaths in Beijing when this story was filed.