Covid outbreak: Heartbreaking video of long lines at crematoriums in China

China Covid status: Covid continues to wreak havoc in China with a record number of daily cases, deaths, and hospitalisations. Reports say that hospitals have run out of beds, oxygen and ICUs have filled up. People are also lining up outside crematoriums as all of them are running at full capacity and have waiting periods of several hours. 

Today, one such heart-wrenching video surfaced where people can be seen lining up with bodies wrapped in bags outside crematoriums. The video was shared by one epidemiologist and health economist Eric Feigl-Ding, who has been constantly sharing reports and anecdotal Covid figures from China.

Sharing the video on Twitter, Eric said: "Long lines at crematoriums...imagine having to not just wait for hours to cremate your loved ones, but have to do it carrying their deceased bodies for all those hours...let’s have empathy for the horrific #COVID19 wave crashing into China."

The epidemiologist on Sunday claimed that frustrated staffers in Beijing state media are now venting that they can't run certain TV shows because over half of staff are home sick with Covid.

US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has projected about 323,000 total Covid deaths in China by 1 April.

Ali Mokdad, professor at IHME, said without social distancing the death toll could exceed 500,000 by 1 April 2023. "Our long-range models predict over 1 million COVID-19 deaths in 2023 in the country," he said.

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

While reports suggest a grim situation in the country, China has stopped releasing daily Covid numbers. On Saturday, the country reported less than 5,000 cases and no deaths.