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As reported by Fox News, severl large shipments of urns to the original epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan has added to the suspicions surrounding the statistics of Chinese deaths reported by Chinese authorities.
Although heavily censored by the Chinese government, citizens have been able leak images to the media through social media of these shipments of urns being received by multiple funeral homes in Wuhan.
Fox News reported on the situation developing in China.
China has reported 3,299 coronavirus-related deaths, with most taking place in Wuhan, the epicenter of the global pandemic. But one funeral home received two shipments of 5,000 urns over the course of two days, according to the Chinese media outlet Caixin.
It’s not clear how many of the urns were filled.
Workers at several funeral parlors declined to provide any details to Bloomberg as to how many urns were waiting to be collected, saying they either did not know or were not authorized to share the number.
Despite dealing with the coronavirus outbreak since November and only recently being able to report improvements, China still has reported less than half of the deaths being reported from Italy.
Bloomberg reported that eight funeral homes in Wuhan were distributing the ashes of those that died in the outbreak to their family members. Citizens described a staggered approach to picking up the ashes. Some were ordered to wait until their employer or a government official came to accompany them to the funeral home.
Citizens have also claimed that law enforcement has encouraged the people picking up the remains of their dead loved ones to refrain from being over-emotional and to not post information on social media.
More details surrounding the delivery of the urns was covered by Bloomberg.
The families of those who succumbed to the virus in the central Chinese city, where the disease first emerged in December, were allowed to pick up their cremated ashes at eight local funeral homes starting this week. As they did, photos circulated on Chinese social media of thousands of urns being ferried in.
Outside one funeral home, trucks shipped in about 2,500 urns on both Wednesday and Thursday, according to Chinese media outlet Caixin. Another picture published by Caixin showed 3,500 urns stacked on the ground inside. It’s unclear how many of the urns had been filled.
People who answered the phone at six of the eight funeral homes in Wuhan said they either did not have data on how many urns were waiting to be collected, or were not authorized to disclose the numbers. Calls were not answered at the other two.
Chinese authorities have already outlawed many of the traditional funeral traditions as a continued precaution to prevent a relapse until April 30.
