Apartment Parking Lot Turned into Crematorium for Bodies... Chinese Funeral System Paralyzed

Major Hospitals and Funeral Facilities in China's Key Cities Overwhelmed... System Paralysis
Health Authorities' '1 Death' Statistic Criticized as "Underestimation"

As COVID-19 deaths surge in China, a shocking scene has emerged where bodies are being cremated in apartment parking lots due to a shortage of cremation and funeral facilities.

On the 5th (local time), Bloomberg reported that since the Chinese epidemic control authorities implemented the 'Zero COVID' policy last December, hospitals and funeral homes in major cities have been overwhelmed. According to Bloomberg, the Longhua cremation facility in Shanghai received more than 500 bodies per day, five times the usual capacity. An employee there said, "The entire system is paralyzed right now," adding, "No one can handle the workload here; it is extremely busy."

On social networking services (SNS) such as Weibo, scenes of temporary cremation facilities being constructed in some cities including Beijing due to the surge in deaths have been observed. Images of body storage rooms filled with coffins and grieving families lined up in front of crematoriums carrying coffins have also been shared. It was reported that the deceased must be cremated hurriedly without sufficient mourning or ceremony, and in some cases, communal cremations are necessary.

A video showing a body being burned in a parking space of a luxury apartment complex in Shanghai, China, was shared on social media.

On SNS, there were also captured scenes of bodies being cremated in apartment parking lots due to the inability to secure funeral facilities. A cremation ceremony took place in the parking area of a luxury apartment complex in Shanghai. People stood in a circle watching the flames, and some threw funeral items such as artificial flowers into the fire. Numerous other videos showing similar situations have been shared.

A netizen who identified themselves as residing in Shanghai posted on SNS, "I tried various ways to cremate my father's body, but there was no solution. All crematoriums were full," explaining, "According to Chinese law, if someone dies from an infectious disease, the body cannot be kept at home, so you have to find an open space in the neighborhood to cremate." Bloomberg described the local situation in China as "a state where people want to die but cannot."

Contrary to this reality, Chinese health authorities announced only one COVID-19 death that day. In China, only deaths caused by respiratory failure after testing positive for COVID-19 are counted as 'COVID-19 deaths.' Cases where underlying conditions worsened or death occurred due to other symptoms are excluded from the statistics, resulting in a significant undercount of actual COVID-19 deaths.

Michael Ryan, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Response Team, criticized this, stating, "The statistics currently released by China underestimate the true impact of COVID-19 in terms of hospitalizations, critical cases, and deaths." Meanwhile, Airfinity, a UK health data company, estimated that daily COVID-19 deaths in China could reach 9,000.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.