COVID DEATH STORM IS HERE
Jul 12, 2020
6 minutes
GCINA NTSALUBA, QUEENIN MASUABI
and VUYO MKIZE
news@citypress.co.za
PHOTO: FELIX DLANGAMANDLA
PHOTO: TEBOGO LETSIE
”According to the regulations, a Covid-19-positive person must be buried within 48 hours and, before they leave the hospital, they must be put in a sealed plastic bag. That’s why, in some cases, the families of the deceased end up burying a person without knowing whether that person is the right one or not”
The long-feared Covid-19 coronavirus storm has arrived. Funeral parlours are battling to cope with demand as Covid-19-related deaths around the country rise daily, and government is increasing capacity in cemeteries to cater for the deluge.
Meanwhile, doctors working at hospitals in Gauteng, which is now the country’s Covid-19 epicentre, are having to decide who will and will not get treated with scarce ventilators and oxygen after hospital admissions in the province skyrocketed over the past 10 days. South African Covid-19 cases have surpassed 250 000 and are now among the fastest-rising numbers in the world.
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