Chinese burned bodies in streets as COVID surge overwhelms funeral homes [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Dead bodies continue to pile up in China as the latest COVID surge overwhelms funeral homes and crematoriums.
• Videos shared online show horrifying images of families burning the bodies of their dead loved ones on the streets.
• China scrapped its zero-COVID policy last month, making the rate of COVID-19 infection spiral out of control.

Shocking videos have been shared on social media showing families in China burning “corpses” in the streets after funeral homes were overwhelmed in the latest COVID surge.

China last month scrapped its extreme restrictions to remain “virus-free” leading to a surge in COVID-19 infection.

Dead bodies continue to pile up in hospitals, crematoriums, and funeral homes with some reportedly already in a decomposing state.

In a video uploaded to Twitter, mourners appear to have resorted to carrying out an unauthorized cremation in a car park outside a block of flats in Huinan town of Shanghai.

A man, covered in a bed sheet, can be seen approaching the burning body in the video while others can be heard weeping.

Local news reported that an elderly man died due to COVID infection and the makeshift cremation took about 10 minutes.

On January 2, another video posted showed a similar scene as a family burned joss items and flowers to pay tribute to the dead.

Chinese authorities denied claims that these viral videos show cremations. Local media Beijing News reported that the grieving families were burning the clothes of their dead loved ones, but not corpses.

The Chinese government reported a total of 5,258 COVID deaths across the country, and seven deaths in the last two weeks, which were all in Beijing.

There were no deaths reported in Shanghai, Nanjing, and Inner Mongolia since the COVID surge last month.

Dr. Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said he would lead a team to calculate excess mortality data and “figure out what could have potentially been underestimated”.

Several countries, including the United States, are now tightening entry restrictions by requiring a negative Covid-19 test for all arrivals from China.

Source: New York Post