Coronavirus: Hong Kong public hospitals to store corpses in private mortuaries, crematoriums extend service hours amid rising deaths
- Health authorities say a contingency plan has been drawn up as many morgues have reached their capacity limit
- Five crematoriums will also extend opening hours past 8pm, and potentially make more sessions available
Health authorities said on Tuesday that a contingency plan had been drawn up as many mortuaries had already reached their capacity, while some corpses were kept temporarily at accident and emergency departments.
“Diamond Hill Funeral Parlour run by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals will lend us 45 spaces from Tuesday. We have also borrowed 40 spaces from two nursing homes starting Wednesday,” said Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer at the Centre for Health Protection.
Au added that 800 temporary refrigerated storage spaces would also be set up around Fu Shan Public Mortuary in Sha Tin by next month as part of an expedited expansion at the funeral home.
Currently, the Fu Shan Public Mortuary, Kwai Chung Public Mortuary and Victoria Public Mortuary in Kennedy Town can store a total of 1,350 corpses. However, authorities said earlier the mortuaries were all rapidly reaching 90 per cent of their capacity.
