Biggest crematorium in Czech Republic swamped by Covid surge
The biggest crematorium in the Czech Republic has been over whelmed by mounting numbers of coronavirus pandemic victims.
All three furnaces are working round the clock, while storage capacity for coffins has been repeatedly increased.
The crematorium, in the north- east city of Ostrava, has been overwhelmed by mounting numbers of victims.
On Thursday, cars from funeral companies delivered coffins every few minutes, some with "Covid" written on them.
The crematorium is currently receiving more than 100 coffins daily, about double its maximum cremation capacity. With confirmed Covid- 19 infections around record highs, the situation looks set to worsen.
Authorities in Ostrava have been speeding up plans to build a fourth furnace but, in the meantime, have sought help from the government's central crisis committee for pandemic co- ordination.
"It's an extraordinary situation," said Katerina Sebestova, a deputy mayor in Ostrava. "Nobody here remembers anything like that.
"It's simply because we have 60 per cent more deceased than we had a year ago. So we have to deal with storage capacity and the capacity to cremate."
Up to 1,000 bodies a month were cremated in O st rava before the pandemic. The number rose to 1,550 in November and 1,570 in December after a surge at the end of October, crematorium director Ivo Furmancik said.
The Czech Republic was spared the worst of the pandemic in the spring – only to see its healthcare system approach collapse in the autumn. It has been hard hit again, with new infections reaching a record high of 17,668 on Wednesday.
The crematorium has built an overflow cold storage container to double its storage capacity by 60 coffins, and further boosted it by adding a couple of movable freezers for another 100.
But the cremation chambers cannot take any more.
"For two- and- a- half months, we have been working nonstop with no pause for maintenance," Mr Furmancik said.
The country of 10.7 million has registered 794,740 confirmed cases and 12,621 deaths. November was the deadliest month, with 4,937 deaths.
Meanwhile, a giant sinkhole which opened in the car park of a hospital in Naples has forced the temporary c losure of a nearby residence for recovering Covid- 19 patients because the electricity was cut off.
Operations were not affected at the Hospital of the Sea, and firefighters said it did not appear anyone was injured.
The sinkhole consumed a few cars in the hospital' s otherwise empty visitors' car park.
The local hospital district said the 66 ft deep, 2,000- square- metre sinkhole opened at dawn.
Chief firefighter Ennio Aquilino told Italian television the implosion could have been caused by an infiltration of water underground as a result of recent heavy rains.
Reports quoted the regional governor as saying the Covi d- 19 residence would reopen within days after electricity and water service were restored.