Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Sep 19, 2025

Crematoriums In China Fill Up Amid Rise In Covid Cases

Crematoriums In China Fill Up Amid Rise In Covid Cases

Social media posts have described the frustration faced by many people in trying to find a hearse and the difficulty of occupying a slot for cremation at a funeral home, the CNN report added.
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise at a meteoric pace in China, crematoriums throughout the country are getting packed and people are forced to wait for hours to get their loved ones cremated, American broadcaster CNN reported.

Social media posts have described the frustration faced by many people in trying to find a hearse and the difficulty of occupying a slot for cremation at a funeral home, the report added.

It further added China's state media is deliberately ignoring scenes of crowded hospital wards and packed crematoriums. Chinese officials have said that only a few people are dying due to COVID-19 as per the government's own tally.

An unverified user on Twitter who goes by the name Byron Wan claimed, "Beiqing Community Newspaper Tongzhou Edition reported on Dec 22 that a funeral home/crematory in Tongzhou has been operating at maximum capacity, currently cremating 140-150 bodies per day, up from 40 before!"

As per the CNN report, a major crematorium in Beijing was fully packed, with a long queue of cars outside the cremation area waiting to get in. Smoke constantly billowed from the furnaces and yellow body bags were piling up inside metal containers. Grieving families waiting in queue held photographs of the victims.

Some people said they had been waiting for more than a day to cremate their loved ones, who died after getting infected with COVID-19. One man told CNN that the hospital where his friend passed away was too full to keep the body and his friend was kept on the floor of the hospital.

In the nearby shops selling funerary items, a florist said that she was running out of stock. Citing social media footage, the report said that crematoriums in many parts of China are struggling to keep up with an influx of bodies.

Facing growing scepticism that it is downplaying COVID deaths, the Chinese government defended the accuracy of its official tally by revealing it had updated its method of counting fatalities caused by the virus, CNN reported.

According to the latest guidelines from the National Health Commission, only those whose death is caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure after getting infected with COVID-19 are considered as Covid deaths, said Wang Guiqiang, a top infectious disease doctor.

Wang Guiqiang said those deemed to have died due to another disease or underlying condition, such as heart attack, will not be counted as a virus death, even if they were infected with COVID-19 at the time, reported CNN.

Explaining China's criteria for counting Covid deaths on Wednesday, the World Health Organization's emergency chief Michael Ryan said the definition was 'quite narrow'.

"People who die of COVID die from many different (organ) systems' failures, given the severity of infection," Ryan said, adding, "So limiting a diagnosis of death from Covid to someone with a Covid positive test and respiratory failure will very much underestimate the true death count associated with Covid."

According to Wang, the Chinese doctor, the definition change was necessitated by Omicron's mild nature, which is different from the Wuhan strain which was witnessed at the initial stage of the pandemic, when most patients died from pneumonia and respiratory failure.

Jin Dongyan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, pointed out that this is more or less the same strict criteria, as per the news report. According to Jin, the definition was only broadened in April this year to include some COVID patients, who died of underlying conditions during the Shanghai lockdown.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
×