Hong Kong will run out of coffins within days as it struggles to keep up with demands following a surge in coronavirus deaths. The city will use up its remaining 300 coffins in the next two to three days according to Kwok Hoi-bong, president of the Funeral Business Association.
He added that families would have to delay funeral services if the problem is not addressed. Due to a lockdown in Shenzhen, a crucial overland route for supplies to Hong Kong has been cut off, The Times reports.
4,847 people have died during the territory's fifth wave of Covid - more than the reported 3,869 who died in Wuhan during the initial outbreak and more than the 4,636 officially reported deaths in mainland China.
Nearly one million of Hong Kong's 7.5 million population are reported to have Covid, with experts predicting the number is much larger due to underreporting. Crematoriums are currently running at full capacity, with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department telling mainland China to treat coffins as "essential supplies" along with food and medicine.
Yesterday Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive said two consignments of coffins were being sent by sea. Health authorities have relaxed Covid treatment requirements amid its battle with the Omicron variant, reporting more than 3,000 new community infections in one day.
Infected people with mild symptoms will be put into group isolation and will only be sent to hospital if their condition worsens. The new policy also makes it easier for the person to have a negative result, by lowering the cycle threshold.
Health professionals say this will reduce pressure on healthcare workers. Lu Hongzhou, a doctor in Shenzhen told the party-run Global Times newspaper: “It reduces the hospitalisation time . . . which helps to better allocate medical resources.”
The policy changes are no indication that China will give up trying to control the spread of the virus. An editorial in the Global Times read: “The Chinese people cannot afford, the country’s medical system cannot afford, if tens of millions or more people should get infected. We must learn to play piano with ten fingers. While we are building strong defence against the pandemic, we must minimise impact on businesses and daily life and maintain the vitality of the economy and the society as much as possible.”
China has a vaccination rate of almost 90 per cent, but experts say that not enough elderly people received boosters, while it is also unclear how well the Chinese vaccines protect against the Omicron variant.
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