The Cebu City government has opened more burial areas as the city gears up for another surge of Covid-19 infections amid the threat of the Delta variant.
Last month, the city experienced a shortage of burial areas as Covid-19 related deaths piled up in funeral parlors.
Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak said Thursday they have managed to open 171 niches in various public cemeteries.
He said the city government also met with funeral parlors with crematoriums to encourage them to prioritize suspected or confirmed Covid-positive cadavers.
Tumulak said one funeral parlor had added two mortuary freezers, each accommodating four cadavers.
Under the law, he said, Covid-suspected or confirmed deaths should be cremated within 12 to 34 hours upon death.
The city also urged families with non-Covid deaths to opt for burial because it was cheaper than cremation that costs between P15,000 to P20,000.
Just last month, the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) recorded at least 78 Covid-related deaths. An additional 20 deaths were recorded in the first two days of August.
Cebu City’s EOC and the health department have yet to confirm if the increase in deaths was due to the Delta variant, but the city was preparing to open additional isolation facilities for recovering Covid patients to decongest hospitals. Ryan Sorote