The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has loosened the lockdown in Wuhan, the epicenter of the Novel Coronavirus. Starting on March 23, the city distributed cinerary urns of the deaths. Earlier, the city was locked down and thus relatives could not go to the funeral homes to pick up the urns that held their loved ones’ ashes.
This gave people a way to estimate the coronavirus death count in Wuhan, which people believe the CCP has been hiding from the public. The government announced 2,531 deaths in Wuhan.
Radio Free Asia reported that the funeral homes said that they would distribute 500 caskets or urns per day and try to complete the distribution before the Qing Ming Festival (a Chinese festival to sweep the tombs and worship the departed). There will be 12 days from March 23 to the Qing Ming Festival (April 4, 2020). Since there are 7 funeral homes, the total caskets distributed will be 500 x 12 x 7, or 42,000.
Another estimate was based on the number of incinerators. Wuhan has 84 incinerators. Assuming 65 functioned normally, each one ran around the clock, and each body took an hour to burn, that would be 65 x 24 = 1,560 bodies per day. Taking out 200 regular deaths each day would leave 1,360 coronavirus deaths per day. In 30 days, the death count will be 40,800.
A person who requested anonymity told Radio Free Asia that Wuhan funeral homes processed about 28,000 corpses during the peak month of the epidemic. “Each funeral home could only report their numbers to the city, but were not allowed to share with other funeral homes.”
Related postings on Chinascope:
- Death Count: Placing Patient in Corpse Bag While Alive
- Death Count: On February 1, Tencent Reported 24,589 Deaths from Coronavirus
- Death Count: Wuhan Has Unusually High Level of Sulfur Dioxide Gas
- Death Count: Funeral Home Interviews Suggested 500 Corpses Incinerated in Wuhan per Day
- Death Count: Wuhan Incinerated 122 Corpses Per Day Before Coronavirus Outbreak
Excerpt in Chinese:
中国湖北武汉疫情已经扩散至全球每一个国家。武汉作为此次瘟疫的源头，官方公布的死亡人数为2531人。民间基本上都没有人相信这个数字。
据统计，武汉目前共有汉口殡仪馆、武昌殡仪馆、青山殡仪馆、蔡甸殡仪馆、黄陂殡仪馆、新洲殡仪馆、江夏殡仪馆共7家汉族殡仪馆，一家回族殡仪馆。
从骨灰盒数量估计死亡人数42800人
有武汉居民说，3月23日开始,湖北武汉武昌殡仪馆接受死者家属领取骨灰，家属在领取过程中全程免费,包括所有的火化费用也是免费的，骨灰盒也由政府赠送。殡仪馆方面称，争取每天发放500个骨灰盒,尽力在清明前做好发放工作。据财新网披露，仅在汉口殡仪馆，两天即到货5000个骨灰盒，这是官方公布武汉肺炎死亡数字的两倍。
有网民推算武汉七家殡仪馆每天合共发放3500个骨灰盒。3月23日至清明节4月5日共12天，累计发放42000个骨灰盒。
以火化炉运作量推算死亡人数46800人
如果以焚化炉数量推算，武汉7座殡仪馆84个火化炉，假设65炉可正常工作，每具遗体火化按1小时计算，每天24小时运转，每天可火化1560具遗体。扣除每天大约200人正常死亡。按照30天计算的死亡人数是46800人。
据武汉一名接近湖北省民政厅的人士对本台披露，很多患者在来不及确诊或根本没有进入确诊程序的情况下死去，包括在家里、街道上、门诊挂号室死亡。这批死者因人数众多，来不及确诊，也没有时间去确诊。因此出现民间和官方两组数据。该名不愿具名的人士说，武汉疫情的死亡数字非常敏感，但武汉市政府在本月初上报给省政府，在疫情最严重的一个月里，武汉的殡仪馆处理了约28000具尸体：“因为每一个殡仪馆每天上下午两次将焚烧尸体的数据上报，不可横向通报。因此，每一个殡仪馆只知自己的焚化尸体数字，其他殡仪馆的情况不知道。”
Source: Radio Free Asia, March 27, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/ql1-03272020060110.html