Since mid-December 2021, with the increase in coronavirus infections, the number of deaths has also increased and this causes concern in funeral homes.
The Federation of Funeral Homes, which brings together 500 establishments that provide funeral services from the 21 provinces of the country, warned about this situation.
Sebastián Barona, national coordinator of the funeral guild, indicated that in the last quarter of 2021 there were not many deaths from Covid, but from other causes. However, after the Christmas and New Year holidays, cases have been increasing.
The normal mortality rate in Guayas is about 40 people a day and in Pichincha it is 35.
In addition, in one day, he added, they carry out between six and eight cremations of deceased by coronavirus.
The manager said that although the impact they had on the peaks of 2020 and 2021 is not yet known, they are afraid of what may happen, because in those years they exceeded the installed capacity.
He recalled that in July 2020 and June 2021 they did up to 300 cremations in a month.
For Barona, the vaccination process is important because it stops more infections and prevents health homes from collapsing, as in the most critical months of the pandemic.
According to a report as of January 17, 2022, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), almost 640 excess deaths, from all causes, are registered nationwide.
In January 2021 there were 2,321 and in the same month in 2020, 595.
In the first week of January there were 32 confirmed and probable deaths from Covid and 34 in the second week.
According to the age group, of the 34 deceased, 28 were over 65 years old, 5 people between 50 and 64 years old and one between 1 and 4 years old.
Of the 32 deceased, 22 are over 65 years old, 7 between 50 and 64 years old and 3 were between 20 and 49 years old.
The Deputy Minister of Governance and Health Surveillance of the MSP, José Ruales, explained that of the total number of deaths, for example, in the second week of January -which were 36, plus another 6 that were yet to be verified-, only three occurred. in the group of 20 to 49 years and almost all, 80%, occur in the population of 50 years and over and especially in the population over 65 years.
Carlos Oporto, a data analyst, stated that there is an upward trend in those killed by Covid.
He maintained that the average per day of burials is 37 and 84, 85 are seen, so he estimated the average excess of people over 60 years of age that could be associated with the pandemic at 38.
At the moment, funeral homes have returned to their task of lifting bodies outside hospitals, either from homes or on public roads.
In Quito alone, personnel from the Cabildo who were assigned to this task together with other dependencies managed to remove nine corpses in January. The last one occurred on Wednesday.
The funeral homes have precisely already carried out, so far in the first month of the new year, four removals of corpses: two in the Conocoto sector and two in the historic center of the capital, following the protocols given by the municipal entity.
Be the first to comment