City urges more weekday funerals to ease congestion
THE City has urged funeral organisers to consider weekday burials where possible and cremations if they are not in conflict with religious or cultural beliefs, in order to limit congestion at City burial sites.
This comes as the Maitland cemetery and Klip Road cemetery in Grassy Park have seen an increase in burials on weekends.
Although the suggestion of more weekday burials has been noted, Saturdays remained the busiest days at City burial sites.
Last month, the Maitland Crematorium experienced a high demand for cremations as a result of the second wave of Covid-19, three times higher than prior to the pandemic.
Mayco member for Community Services and Health Zahid Badroodien said, “Approximately 350 to 400 cremations were done monthly at Maitland Crematorium prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“At the height of the second wave, for three weeks Maitland Crematorium recorded its highest numbers, reaching up to 250 cremations per week.
“The situation has since returned to normal.”
In the latest amendments to the Disaster Management Regulations on the handling of Covid-19 remains and burials: coffins should not be wrapped in any type of plastic; undertakers must deliver the mortal remains on the day of the burial and must ensure that the remains are not touched; and the funeral attendance should be limited to 50 people, including undertaker personnel.
“We have experienced a decrease in the number of burials since the second wave of the pandemic slowed down, but all indications are that we will have a third and even fourth wave of infections.
“So it is imperative that we continue managing the use of our cemeteries and crematoria, and avoid a situation where multi-burials become necessary, even though these are allowed for in the national regulations.”
According to the recent update on Covid-19 provided by Premier Alan Winde, the province reported 2 206 active infections, 278 917 confirmed cases and 265 285 recoveries as at 1pm yesterday. About 11 426 people had died due to Covid-19 complications as of Tuesday.