Ten unclaimed urns sit in the crematorium in Jingzhou, a city in central China's Hubei province hard-hit by coronavirus.
JINGZHOU, China - Ten unclaimed urns sit in the crematorium in Jingzhou, a city in central China’s Hubei province hard-hit by coronavirus.
The ashes of the dead “are under our care for now because their family members are in quarantine, or they’re away and can’t come back yet,” said the director of the Jingzhou crematorium, who gave only his surname, Sheng, as he was not permitted to speak to the media. Whatever the cause of death, China’s bereaved families have not been able to hold funerals since Feb. 1, even as the nation’s outbreak eases, including in Hubei where the virus erupted in December.
Without funerals Sheng’s staff, like crematorium workers across much of China, get right to work, some in full surgical outfits with blue coveralls and hair covers like blue shower caps. Staff at the facility where Sheng has worked for 29 years now take shifts around the clock, in case a call comes from the hospital in the middle of the night to collect the body of a coronavirus victim, he said. Previously, they cremated bodies in the morning.Easing the burden somewhat of late has been the slowdown in domestic virus cases and a drop in traffic deaths as harsh restrictions on movement curtail driving.
China has reported more than 81,000 coronavirus infections and 3,300 deaths, mostly in Wuhan, where the virus is thought to have first infected people at a seafood market.
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