Many crematoriums in South Korea are overwhelmed by the ‘tsunami’ of Omicron

According to Reuters news agency (UK), on March 23, South Korean officials said that the total number of COVID-19 cases in Korea has surpassed 10 million people, equivalent to 20% of the population. The country is facing a terrible wave of epidemics due to the highly contagious variant of Omicron that spreads quickly. South Korea has lifted most of its epidemic prevention measures, such as contact tracing, isolation and easing social distancing measures.

On March 22, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) recorded 490,881 cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection. This is the second highest number of daily infections after South Korea recorded a record number of infections on March 16 with 621,205 cases. The total number of cases has increased to over 10,427,200 cases with 13,432 deaths.

However, South Korea’s infection and death rate is still much lower than that of other countries. Nearly 87% of the country’s 52 million population has been fully vaccinated and 63% has received booster shots.

But the number of deaths in South Korea has nearly doubled in just about six weeks. Last week, the country recorded a record high number of deaths, with 429 cases / day on March 18. The sharp increase in the number of deaths has spurred the demand for funerals in many localities.

On March 21, the Korean government ordered 60 crematoriums nationwide to operate overtime to increase capacity. At the same time, officials also suggested that more than 1,300 funeral homes with the capacity to store about 8,700 bodies expand the facility.

Health Ministry official Son Young-rae said: “We discussed measures to increase the capacity of crematoriums in order to reduce inconvenience to people. The capacity of crematoriums is increasing, but there are still regional variations.”

South Korean authorities have now increased the total capacity of cremation nationwide from 1,000 cases to 1,400 cases per day starting last week. However, in some densely populated places, such as the metropolitan area of ​​Seoul, overcrowding has not been completely overcome. Many families have to wait a long time before it is their turn to cremate the bodies of their loved ones.

According to South Korean Health Ministry data, 28% of crematoriums in Seoul are operating at 114.2 percent capacity, while the rate in other regions, such as Sejong and Jeju, is around 83 percent. . To alleviate this situation, crematoriums in places that are not temporarily overwhelmed are allowed to accept cremations of bodies from other areas on a pre-booked schedule.

In addition to the number of deaths, the number of severe COVID-19 cases is also seeing an upward trend in South Korea. Park Hyang, another official of the Ministry of Health, said that the number of severe COVID-19 cases in South Korea has surpassed 1,000 cases in the past two weeks and is forecast to reach 2,000 cases by early April.

As of March 23, about 64.4% of hospital beds in ICUs were filled, compared with 59% two weeks ago.

“The health system is under great pressure even though the epidemic situation is still under control. We will focus more on high-risk groups, test regularly so that there are no blind spots in our efforts to deal with the epidemic,” Park said.