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Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/corona...aths-1.5258605
Biggest Czech crematorium overwhelmed by pandemic deaths
Karel Janicek
The Associated Press
Published Friday, January 8, 2021 2:52AM EST
OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC -- All three cremation chambers are working round the clock, while storage capacity for caskets has been repeatedly boosted.
Despite all the efforts, the Czech Republic's biggest crematorium, in the northeastern city of Ostrava, has been overwhelmed by mounting numbers of pandemic victims.
On Thursday, cars from funeral companies delivered caskets every few minutes, some with "COVID" written on them. These days, the crematorium receives more than 100 coffins daily, about double its maximum cremation capacity.
With new 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." The facility belongs to Ostrava City Hall.
"It's simply because we have 60% more deceased than we had a year ago. So, we have to deal with storage capacity and the capacity to cremate," she said.
Up to 1,000 bodies a month were cremated in Ostrava before the pandemic struck. 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 health care system approach collapse in the fall, about the time the spike began. It has been hard-hit again with new infections reaching a record high of 17,668 on Wednesday, a record set for the second straight day...
Biggest Czech crematorium overwhelmed by pandemic deaths
Karel Janicek
The Associated Press
Published Friday, January 8, 2021 2:52AM EST
OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC -- All three cremation chambers are working round the clock, while storage capacity for caskets has been repeatedly boosted.
Despite all the efforts, the Czech Republic's biggest crematorium, in the northeastern city of Ostrava, has been overwhelmed by mounting numbers of pandemic victims.
On Thursday, cars from funeral companies delivered caskets every few minutes, some with "COVID" written on them. These days, the crematorium receives more than 100 coffins daily, about double its maximum cremation capacity.
With new 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." The facility belongs to Ostrava City Hall.
"It's simply because we have 60% more deceased than we had a year ago. So, we have to deal with storage capacity and the capacity to cremate," she said.
Up to 1,000 bodies a month were cremated in Ostrava before the pandemic struck. 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 health care system approach collapse in the fall, about the time the spike began. It has been hard-hit again with new infections reaching a record high of 17,668 on Wednesday, a record set for the second straight day...