Morgues Overflowing As Hong Kong Suffers Deadly Covid Wave

Morgues Overflowing As Hong Kong Suffers Deadly Covid Wave

Workers in PPE gear in Hong Kong carted the bodies of coronavirus victims into refrigerated shipping containers on Wednesday, as the city’s morgues run out of space from a deadly Omicron surge.

In under 3 months since the highly transmissible variant broke through, Hong Kong has recorded nearly a million infections and more than 4,600 deaths – the bulk of them from the city’s unvaccinated elderly population.

A funeral industry representative told local media the soaring death toll had seen a crunch in the city’s coffins supply, with only 300 remaining and expected to be gone by the weekend.
Leader Carrie Lam acknowledged the supply issues during a press conference on Wednesday, and said 2 more shipments of coffins will arrive in Hong Kong from the mainland soon.

“I learned from the Food and Health Bureau last night that they are endeavouring to arrange transportation (of coffins) by water,” she said.

She added that officials have been trying to help families concerned about post-mortem affairs, including how to retrieve bodies already transported to public morgues without a doctor issuing a death certificate.
“We will try to find a way for the family to take the body back so that they can arrange the funeral soon. The crematoriums… have also been working day and night at full capacity,” Lam said.

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