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South Africa is the country most affected by the pandemic on the continent, with more than 1.4 million cases of coronavirus and 40,800 deaths.
A morgue aide at the Johannesburg branch of South African funeral and burial services company Avbob checks the status of a protective wrap inside a refrigerated container where the bodies of deceased patients with COVID-19-related illnesses are kept in isolation before of their burials on January 22, 2021 Image: AFP
JOHANNESBURG – The cold hits you first. Then comes the smell.
Inside a refrigerated shipping container are 17 corpses wrapped in plastic, each with a yellow label that says “highly contagious.”
The 12-meter (40-foot) steel box was installed in a Johannesburg morgue to help it cope with a rising tide of deaths from COVID-19.
The container can store up to 40 carcasses, keeping them at a constant zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).
“We’ve seen an increase of about 40 percent (in corpses) across the country,” said spokesman Marius du Plessis of AVBOB, a leading provider of funeral and burial services in the country.
South Africa is the country most affected by the pandemic on the continent, with more than 1.4 million cases of coronavirus and 40,800 deaths.
It was already struggling to fight infections when they spiked to unprecedented levels this month after scientists detected a new variant of the virus believed to be more contagious.
To help store the influx of bodies and ensure that COVID-19 victims are separated from others, AVBOB has distributed 22 containers normally used to transport goods to its 250 South African morgues.
QUICK BILLING
At a funeral home in the administrative capital of Pretoria, an undertaker ties a third layer of plastic around a corpse shipped that morning from a coronavirus hospital ward.
Only the feet, arms and head can be distinguished from the tightly wrapped bundle that lies on a stainless steel table, surrounded by white tile walls.
The body must be buried soon.
“Covid corpses can be kept for a maximum of seven days,” said facility manager Naomi Van der Heever.
The surrounding refrigerated rooms are nearly full, with 200 bodies waiting to be buried or cremated. More than half succumbed to the virus.
“They have to go fast, it’s protocol,” Van der Heever said.
“With the rotation, we have avoided full capacity.”
CASKETS ON DEMAND
Coffin makers are feeling the strain, too.
“I can’t take any more orders,” Johannesburg manufacturer’s secretary Enzo Wood repeats every time she answers the phone.
More than 100 workers have been working non-stop since early in the morning, sprinkling sawdust across the factory floor.
The noise is deafening as the machines spin non-stop for eight hours a day, churning out dozens of planks of wood.
Then it only takes 20 minutes to put together a coffin.
Enzo Wood is now working at full capacity, producing 300 caskets per day. Orders fly off warehouse shelves, making inventory backlogging impossible.
Sales manager Kasie Pillay noted that demand for “oversized” boxes had increased further. Evidence suggests that people who are overweight and those with chronic conditions like diabetes are at increased risk for COVID-19.
However, costs have also increased, making it difficult to work with quality wood and materials.
“Some are trying to take advantage of this period, some prices have gone up,” Pillay said. “The handles of the boxes, for example.”
Coffins are a symbolic investment for grieving families in South Africa, where funerals are expensive ceremonies punctuated with week-long vigils, decorations and catering.
Some of Enzo Wood’s fancier caskets can sell for up to R6,500 ($ 426).
But priorities have changed during the pandemic.
“Undertakers are no longer interested in what they get as long as they get something to bury Covid patients,” Pillay said.
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