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No bottlenecks due to Corona – Berlin.de

The increasing number of deaths in connection with a corona disease are also noticeable in the crematoria and cemeteries in Berlin and Brandenburg. The situation there is not yet tense. This was the result of a survey by the German Press Agency (as of Friday). In the crematorium in Potsdam there would be around 140 coffins with corpses that have to be cremated. “That is more than normal peak times at Easter or Christmas,” said the head of the Potsdam municipal cemeteries, Gunther Butzmann. However, there is sufficient cooling capacity in the crematorium. So far, there are no bottlenecks.

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A clinic employee draws the Covid-19 vaccine for a vaccination on a syringe.

The situation is also not yet critical at the Südwestfriedhof in Stahnsdorf (Potsdam-Mittelmark district). Despite increasing numbers of corona deaths, there are no delays in the funerals. Cemetery manager Olaf Ihlefeldt also stated that fewer people were buried last year than in previous years. There were 600 deaths in 2020, 645 the year before. Coffins are also not in short supply. But Ihlefeldt sees another problem: to protect against infection, the corpses are buried in airtight hygienic covers. These plastic covers not only have to be disposed of one day, they also preserve the viruses.

Brandenburg Health Minister Ursula Nonnemacher (Greens) said the undertakers had been included in the exceptions for emergency childcare. “The situation is sometimes really so difficult and so precarious in individual rows that it was urgently necessary,” she said on Monday in the state parliament’s health committee.

In the crematoria in Berlin, an increased workload is clearly noticeable, said the spokesman for the Berlin-Brandenburg Undertaker Guild, Fabian Lenzen. However, the requirements can be fully met. The two Berlin crematoriums, Ruhleben and Treptow, had relatively extensive cooling capacities. In both federal states, there was sometimes a backlog over the holidays because the closed registry offices could not issue the necessary papers.

The Berlin-Brandenburg Undertaker Guild and the Federal Association of German Undertakers demanded that undertakers as well as cemetery and crematoria staff should be given preference in the case of corona vaccinations. After all, they are indispensable for maintaining social order, said Fabian Lenzen.

Source: dpa

| Updated: Monday, January 11, 2021 2:54 p.m.

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