'Covid going insane': China's crematoriums running full, people waiting for hours

China's crematoriums are running at full capacity and people are waiting for hours to get their loved ones cremated, according to several reports from Beijing, which has also been hit hard by a highly infectious Covid variant, BF.7.

China's National Health Commission (NHS) today reported 3,030 new cases in the Chinese mainland. But these numbers defy some of the grim reports coming from different provinces and cities including Beijing.

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CNN's Selina Wang recently visited a crematorium in Beijing and found that it was running full and the people were waiting outside for hours for their turn. At the crematorium, long lines of cars were waiting to get into the cremation area and the parking lot was also full.

Wang spoke to a person who said his friend passed away due to fever. The person said he was waiting for hours and he had no idea whether his friend's body would be cremated today.
 
The Covid situation, it seems, has taken an ugly turn not only in Beijing but also in other parts of China.

In Xin'an county in Henan Province, a person said the situation was "going insane" in funeral homes there. There, the funeral home was packed with cars and vans carrying bodies, according to a video report by CNN.

The report also said that long lines were firming up across the country outside hospitals. In Wuhan, where the pandemic began in 2019, people are waiting outside hospitals.

In Beijing, the hospitals are running out of beds and healthcare workers say they are extremely busy. "Did people die here?" Wang asked one worker outside a hospital in Bejing. To this, the person said: "Yes, with underlying conditions."      

Epidemiologists say China is likely to see three Covid waves and the current is the first. Several mathematical projections and models predict a million cases and lakhs of deaths in the next few months.   

However, the authorities reported five deaths on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, WHO emergencies chief Dr Ryan said anecdotally ICUs are filling up in China but what has been reported is relatively low numbers of cases in ICUs. He urged China to provide more information about the latest spread of the virus.

News agency Reuters also reported that its witness saw about 40 vans queuing to enter a crematorium in Beijing's Tongzhou. Inside, family and friends gathered around about 20 coffins awaiting cremation, the report said. "Staff wore hazmat suits and smoke rose from five of the 15 furnaces."

In Beijing, some residents have to wait days to cremate relatives or pay steep fees to secure faster service, funeral home workers said as per Reuters.

The report also stated that a worker at one funeral parlour posted on social media an offer of "speedy arrangement of hearses, no queue for cremation" for a fee of 26,000 yuan ($3,730).