Families filmed 'burning corpses of Covid victims on streets' as China's cases explode
China's Covid cases have surged with grieving families being told to wait for days, if not weeks, to cremate the deceased. Some have resorted to building makeshift pyres
Grim videos have emerged showing mourners in China burning "corpses" in the streets after bodies piled up in funeral homes in the latest Covid surge.
Since the country scrapped its extreme restrictions to remain "virus-free" last month, the rate of Covid-19 infection has spiralled out of control.
Hospitals and funeral homes are now overflowing with dying patients and decomposing bodies.
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In a video taken in Huinan town of Shanghai, members of a family appear to have resorted to carrying out an unauthorised cremation in a car park outside a block of flats.
A man approaches to the burning body, covered in a bed sheet, while others can be heard weeping.
It's reported that an elderly man recently passed away because of Covid infection and the makeshift cremation took about 10 minutes.
Another video posted on January 2 showed a similar scene as a family burned joss items and flowers to pay tribute to the dead.
Chinese authorities were alerted of these viral videos but have since denied claims they are cremations.
A source told local media Beijing News that the grieving families were burning the deceased's clothes, but not corpses.
The government reported a total of 5,258 Covid deaths across the nation, and seven deaths in the last two weeks, which were all in Beijing.
No deaths have since been reported in Shanghai, Nanjing and Inner Mongolia since the infection rate surged last month.
Chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou, at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said he would lead a team to calculate excess mortality data and "figure out what could have potentially been underestimated".
Border security in other countries are either tightening entry restrictions or considering it now Chinese tourists have been given the green light to travel.
Downing Street confirmed that people flying to the UK would need to take a Covid test before travelling, and would not be allowed to travel if they tested positive for the virus.
But on arrival, only a sample of passengers will be tested on a voluntary basis.
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