Wuhan residents line up to bury COVID-19 victims after China lifts lockdown

After Wuhan ended the 76-days long lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, the residents are reportedly lining up at funeral home to bury the dead. Wuhan authorities had barred the residents to venture out from their house even for the funeral of their family members amid sweeping lockdown to contain the deadly virus.

Following the orders of Wuhan authorities, the remains of thousands of people who died from coronavirus or other reasons were stored at funeral homes. According to a notice issued by China’s National Health Commission, the authorities were told to ensure the dead bodies of confirmed and suspected coronavirus patients to be taken directly from hospitals to funeral homes for cremation.

When the cases of local infections marked a significant drop, residents were allowed to retrieve the ashes of the dead from funeral homes which left many people not seeing their deceased relatives before the cremation. Wuhan lifted the lockdown on April 8 to allow people to leave the central Chinese city for the first time since January 23 after the novel coronavirus was deemed highly contagious.

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Rise in imported cases

While China has been able to contain the virus under strict lockdowns, the drastic rise in new imported cases has raised fears of the second wave of COVID-19 outbreak. China’s National Health Commission has reported 82,052 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 3,339 overall death toll in the country with a clear decline in the rate of infection. However, the imported coronavirus cases have risen sharply along with a worrying surge in asymptomatic cases. 

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Residents have reportedly been allowed to leave the city only with a special authorisation that requires a mandatory smartphone application that provides for government surveillance showing the travellers are healthy and have been in recent contact with anyone infected by the deadly virus. With the rise in the number of imported coronavirus cases, China has tightened the border control measures in order to curb such cases.

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(With agency inputs | Representational Image: AP )