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'We can't stop': Funeral worker says Wuhan cremating ‘at least 100’ bodies a day amid coronavirus outbreak
A crematorium worker in Wuhan, China, confirmed that officials are working at an alarming pace to burn the bodies of the deceased in the city amid the coronavirus outbreak.
"We need to pick up bodies when they call us. Every day, we need at least 100 body bags," a crematorium worker named Mr. Yun told the Epoch Times. “We can’t stop because we can’t leave the bodies outside for a long time."
Wuhan officials were accused of cremating the dead in secret last week, and Mr. Yun claimed the rumors are true as China adopts "draconian measures" to treat the outbreak.
Dramatic videos from Wuhan posted to social media apps this week show scenes of sorrow and panic as medical officials and police allegedly chase infected people through the streets and force patients, against their will, into ambulances headed to the hospitals. Other videos show officials spraying what is believed to be disinfectant spray from cement trucks onto deserted streets.
China has turned sports halls and exhibition centers in Wuhan into 11 temporary hospitals to treat the epidemic that has killed almost 500 people — although figures from the Chinese government have been contested by Western outlets.
Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton has called for a travel ban to China and noted that the "only biosafety level four super laboratory that works with the world's most deadly pathogens" is located in Wuhan.
Three airplanes have returned U.S. citizens from China in the past week, and one of the children aboard the first flight is being monitored for coronavirus after developing a fever.
And:
China orders families of coronavirus victims to cremate them and keep funerals low-key to stop the virus spreading
Chinese ministry said funerals should be held in 'simple and expeditious manner'
Officials told families to 'avoid gatherings of people' to contain the deadly virus
More than 360 people have already died, all but one of them in mainland China
The figure is now higher than the number who died in mainland China during the 2002-03 SARS crisis.
However, there have also been claims that hasty cremations are minimising the death toll - meaning the true scale of the outbreak could be worse.
The civil affairs ministry said that staff handling funerals should wear protective gear and carry out temperature checks to avoid risking infection.
The ministry has also urged couples to delay their weddings in order to prevent large gatherings. China has ordered families of coronavirus victims to cremate their relatives at low-key funerals to stop the further spread of the virus.
Beijing's civil affairs ministry says funerals should be held in a 'simple and expeditious manner to avoid gatherings of people'.
The country's National Health Commission said bodies should be 'cremated close by and immediately', state-run media said.
The bodies must not be buried or moved away from the area where the person died, authorities say.
Yesterday, February 2, had been a popular day for wedding bookings because of the palindromic date - 02/02/2020.
Officials in Hubei province announced on Saturday that they would suspend all marriage registrations until further notice from today.
China has introduced drastic travel restrictions and pushed back the end of the Lunar New Year break - when hundreds of millions of people travel across the country to visit their families - in a bid to contain the virus.
The holiday - originally scheduled to end last Friday - was extended by three days to give authorities more time to deal with the crisis.
But some major cities including Shanghai have extended the holiday again, and many schools and universities delayed the start of new terms.
Officials have also urged factories to delay their return to work and the public has been asked to avoid large crowds.
More than 50 million people in Hubei province, where the virus was first detected, are effectively locked down after authorities severed transport links.
A growing list of foreign countries and airlines have also halted or reduced travel links with China.
The US, Australia, New Zealand and Israel have banned foreign nationals from visiting if they have been in China recently, and they have also warned their own citizens against travelling there.
Russia has halted most of its air and rail traffic with China, shut down its land border with China and Mongolia and temporarily stopped issuing work visas to Chinese citizens.
Authorities said today that Russia was suspending the last operating train that connects Moscow and Beijing.
