OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (PA) – All three incineration chambers operate non-stop, while the storage capacity of the crates has been repeatedly increased.
Despite all efforts, the largest crematorium in the Czech Republic, in the town of Ostrava in the northeast of the city, was overwhelmed by the increased number of victims of the pandemic.
On Thursday, the cars from the funeral companies delivered the crates every few minutes, some with “COVID” written on them. These days, the crematorium receives more than 100 coffins daily, roughly doubling its maximum incineration capacity.
With new infections confirmed by COVID-19 around record levels, the situation seems to be getting worse.
Authorities in Ostrava have accelerated plans to build a fourth furnace, but in the meantime have sought help from the government’s central crisis committee to coordinate the pandemic.
“It’s an extraordinary situation,” said Katerina Sebestova, deputy mayor of Ostrava. “Nobody here remembers that.” The facility belongs to Ostrava City Hall.
“Simply because we have 60% more deaths than a year ago. So, we have to deal with storage capacity and incineration capacity, ”she said.
Up to 1,000 bodies a month were cremated in Ostrava before the pandemic. The number rose to 1,550 in November and 1,570 in December, after an increase in late October, said crematorium director Ivo Furmancik.
The Czech Republic has been spared the worst pandemic in the spring, only to see its health care system collapse in the fall, just as the peak began. He was hit again with new infections that reached a record 17,668 on Wednesday, a record set for the second day in a row.
The increase in infections is likely to be followed again by an increase in deaths.
“To tell you the truth, I expect the situation not to improve, but unfortunately it will probably get worse,” Furmancik said.
The crematorium built a cold storage container to double its storage capacity by 60 coffins and further amplified it by adding two mobile freezers for another 100. But incineration chambers can no longer stand it.
“We have been working non-stop for two and a half months, without any maintenance breaks,” said Furmancik. “So this is not really an optimal situation. How long can this last? I am concerned that, due to this intensive use, crematoria could be severely damaged at any time. “
The country of 10.7 million registered 794,740 confirmed cases and 12,621 deaths. November was the deadliest month, with 4,937 dead.
Ostrava is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian region, which, together with another region, is at the forefront of the number of deaths from the country’s virus with about 1,500 deaths.
Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, who heads the central crisis committee, has promised to set up a system for distributing the bodies to other crematoria across the country, but some have already indicated that they are reaching their own limits.
“Another more difficult option is that we will only take the number of dead that we are able to cremate,” Furmancik said.
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