‘Worked to the bone’: Chinese crematoriums battle Covid wave

BEIJING: Workers at Beijing crematoriums said on Friday they are overwhelmed as China faces a surge in Covid cases that authorities warn could hit its underdeveloped rural hinterland during the upcoming public holidays.
Covid is spreading rapidly across China after three years of strict containment measures ended last week, with health authorities now admitting the true scale of the outbreak is “impossible” to track.
China’s top Covid response body on Friday urged local governments to step up monitoring and treatment services for people returning to rural hometowns to visit family for upcoming New Year’s Day and Lunar New Year celebrations. The latter is the world’s largest annual migration, with three years of pent-up demand due to prolonged zero-Covid travel curbs waiting to explode.
Two Beijing funeral homes confirmed they wereoperating 24 hours a day and offering same-day cremation services to keep up with a surge in demand, despite official data registering no new Covid deaths since December 4.
“We’re being worked to the bone! Over 10 of our 60 staff are positive (for Covid) but we have no choice,” one crematorium said. “We are cremating 20 bodies a day, mostly old people. ” Another Beijing crematorium said there was a weeklong waiting list for a spot.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong estimated China could experience about a million Covid deaths this winter without timely intervention such as fourth-dose booster vaccinations and social restrictions.