Satellite images taken over several Chinese cities show crowding at crematoriums and funeral homes amidst the unprecedented Covid-19 surge after Beijing lifted the strict zero-Covid approach.
Before and after Images of Tangshan city funeral home from/AFP
Maxar Technologies took the images in late December and early January. And now, they have been reviewed and verified by US news publications.
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Images suggest increased visits to funeral homes
The pictures show a funeral home on the outskirts of Beijing, which appears to have constructed a brand-new parking area, as well as lines of vehicles waiting outside of funeral homes in Kunming, Nanjing, Chengdu, Tangshan and Huzhou.
Reuters
A funeral home in Chengdu, China, swamped with visitors, allotted two minutes for families to say goodbye to loved ones before cremation, Washington Post reported.
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The publication also reported a funeral parlour quickly created space for a new parking lot on Beijing’s outskirts.
Scalpers in Shanghai reportedly sold places in the queue at funeral homes for USD 300 a pop to grieving relatives.
” I have worked here for six years and it has never been this busy,” said a receptionist at the Jiangnan Funeral Home in Chongqing in southwest China.
“The freezers were full and all eight incinerators were operating 24/7. The phone has basically not stopped ringing,” she said.
End to
zero-Covid approach
Recently, China moved away from its strict zero-Covid approach – a move that had sparked mass unrest after more than two years of strong curbs on citizens’ lives.
As per CNN, the satellite pictures are in line with the reporting around the situation in China and social media accounts regarding overcrowding in funeral homes and crematoriums.
Low death toll reported by China
China’s strict policy protected its population from the mass deaths seen in Western nations – a contrast repeatedly highlighted by the Communist Party to demonstrate the merit of its restrictions.
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Meanwhile, China’s official Covid-19 death toll since it eased restrictions remains strikingly low – with only 37 deaths recorded since December 7. The country only lists those Covid patients who succumbed to respiratory failure as having died of Covid, a criteria the World Health Organization (WHO) has criticized as “quite narrow.”
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