Workers at crematoriums in Beijing said Friday that their establishments are overwhelmed by the unprecedented wave of COVID-19 cases in China, which is expected to affect rural areas of the country soon according to authorities.
The outbreak is spreading rapidly across China, a week after the majority of health restrictions in place for nearly three years were lifted. Authorities have admitted that it is now “impossible” for them to tally the number of cases.
“We cremate twenty bodies a day, mostly old people. A lot of people have fallen ill recently,” an employee of a crematorium told AFP.
The virus does not spare the staff: “we are made to work a lot! Out of 60 employees, more than 10 are positive (for COVID-19), but we have no choice, there is so much work lately,” he added.
Workers at two Beijing funeral homes contacted by AFP said their establishments are now working around the clock, offering same-day cremation services to meet high demand.
Another crematorium indicated that it now has a one-week waiting list.
Yet official figures show no COVID-related deaths since December 4.
“Coronavirus cold”
The COVID-19 relief agency on Friday called on local governments to increase surveillance and medical attention for people returning to rural families ahead of the Chinese New Year in January.
The event causes the largest population migration in the world each year. Demand is expected to explode this year, after restrictions on travel between provinces are lifted.
State media and Chinese health experts have downplayed the dangerousness of the Omicron variant in recent days, with respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan proposing to rename COVID as the “coronavirus cold”.
But the country has millions of vulnerable elderly people who have not been vaccinated, while antigen tests and fever medications have become unavailable in many pharmacies.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong predicted that COVID could kill one million people in China this winter, absent a fourth dose of the vaccine or new restrictions.
Officially, only nine deaths have been attributed to the outbreak since mid-November. The country has recorded more than 10,000 daily cases since.
Previously, no virus-related deaths had been reported between May 28 and November 19.
When the first cases were detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, many deaths of COVID-positive patients were not recorded, due to strict national rules to attribute a death to the virus, according to the explanation given to the time by Chinese media.
Crowded hospitals
This week, the directors of five retirement homes told the local press that they could no longer obtain antigen tests or medicines due to shortages. They said they have no contingency plan in case cases explode.
Employees of many retirement homes in Beijing, contacted by AFP on Friday, refused to discuss the situation in their establishments.
Nationally, many retirement homes continue to operate “closed circuit” – a containment measure where staff must sleep on site – according to notices posted online in recent days.
But China’s lack of doctors’ offices means that people tend to go to the hospital even for a minor problem, which easily causes congestion.
Videos of COVID patients sitting on stools outside crowded hospitals receiving saline infusions have gone viral on social media.
AFP was able to geolocate one of these videos, shot in front of a hospital in the city of Hanchuan, in the province of Hubei, a hospital employee confirming that it dates from Tuesday.
“The patients in this video were willing to sit outside in the sun, as there were a bit too many people inside,” he told AFP.