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South African funeral directors have spoken of ‘running out of caskets’ after they were overwhelmed by a 120 percent spike in deaths from Covid-19.
The country faces a highly infectious mutant strain of coronavirus, which has led to the increase in deaths and cases: 422 people died yesterday, while more than 15,000 tested positive for the virus.
Funeral companies now hope the government will find a vaccine and roll it out across the country amid high demand for caskets, increasing numbers of their staff dying from the virus, and policy cancellations.
South African funeral directors have spoken of ‘running out of caskets’ after they were overwhelmed by a 120% increase in deaths from Covid-19. Pictured: Funeral workers in PPE carry a coffin during the burial of a Covid-19 patient in Joburn, South Africa today
Pictured: Funeral workers disinfect equipment used after the burial of a Covid-19 patient
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday that he is “ incredibly concerned ” about the highly infectious South African coronavirus mutation, which leading experts fear could ruin Britain’s deployment of the vaccine.
The director of the South African Thabiso Maumakoe funeral home, who runs the Tshipi-Noto funeral home in Delmas, Mpumalanga, said he and his staff, many of whom are parents or elderly, are “scared.”
“We are aware that this is a different variant and, like everyone else, we are afraid as a company and as human beings,” he told SABC News.
“We have parents and elders, so there is definitely fear within the team.”
The new mutant of the South African coronavirus, called 501.V2, was announced in Cape Town in December and is believed to be a more extreme variant than Britain’s new Covid strain, which plunged millions into miserable Christmas shutdowns.
Cases in South Africa have skyrocketed from less than 3,000 a day in early December to more than 15,000 a day, with the mutant accounting for up to 90 percent of those new infections.
Muzi Hlengwa, president of the South African National Association of Funeral Practitioners, said he had never witnessed anything like this in his career.
‘It’s something you’ve never seen before. We have run out of coffins, we have run out of room in the morgue, ” he said.
‘Some funerals have had to be postponed because there is no place for burial. We even do cremations at night.
Meanwhile, Mr. Maumakoe has been offering financial assistance and funeral coverage to his clients, as many now cannot afford the cost of burial.
The beginning of the New Year is usually a quiet time of year for funeral homes, but staff are preparing for more burials as the number of deaths continues to rise daily in South Africa.
Undertakers are now hoping the government will find a vaccine and roll it out across the country amid high demand for caskets, an increasing number of its staff dying from the virus, and policy cancellations.
Maumakoe said the lawsuit has left them with a shortage of caskets.
“Casket makers are overwhelmed and struggling with demand. In addition to this, there is no variety and in fact we are dealing with the effect of not receiving supplies on time. ”
He added: ‘Last week our numbers shot up 120 percent and this week our numbers are increasing again. These are not our normal numbers. ‘
Despite increasing demand for funerals, businesses are struggling financially.
“This is definitely not a business boom for us,” said Mr. Maumakoe. “We are not making money from this because operating costs have increased.
‘The blockade has also led to the cancellation of policies. Some have no money to bury and we have to find a way to help them. ‘
Maumakoe said the lawsuit has left them with a shortage of caskets in South Africa.
Another funeral director, David Mlilo, who runs Sisonke’s funerals in South Africa and Zimbabwe, said burying people between countries was a struggle.
“I spent New Years Eve on my way to Zimbabwe. I will go out again tomorrow or Tuesday …
When you arrive at the place where you are going to bury someone, there are different scenarios. There was one in which they told me that I had to get the body out of the house.
We had to carry the body ourselves to the grave. If we get those shots, it will be easier for us. It will make our lives easier. ‘
South Africa has been in crisis since the new strain emerged in its country. Since Christmas Eve, the number of cases has gone from 10,821 to 15,186 yesterday.
The number of deaths is increasing daily at a terrifying rate, with 422 deaths recorded yesterday compared to 281 deaths on Christmas Eve.
Several countries have banned travelers from South Africa from trying to contain the spread of the new strain, including the UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
But the variant has already been detected in two places in Britain in contacts of people who had recently visited the African nation.
