KALIBO, Aklan – The Gegato Abecia Funeral Homes & Crematory based in Iloilo City announced they would scale down to cremating 10 bodies a day because the machine they use for cremation overheated from cremating 20 to 30 bodies daily.
“We will cremate the remaining dead bodies, but starting Aug. 2, we will temporarily stop our operation,” said Fely Gegato, owner.
Her funeral homes is the partner crematorium of the provincial government of Aklan in safe cremation of Aklanons who die of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Aklan has been placed under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine from Aug. 1 to 15 due to the rise in infections.
Gegato said they ordered another cremation machine that could accommodate 100 bodies a day but did not say when the crematorium would operate again.
Because of this, Gov. Florencio Miraflores directed all mayors in Aklan to prepare burial grounds for confirmed COVID-19 deaths.
In fact, on Monday right after the Gegato announcement, the bodies of two COVID-19 fatalities in Kalibo were buried in two separate cemeteries.
To avoid contamination, the government must hire experts to conduct a specific study on how to properly bury the dead bodies, according to Dr. Bong Cornelio Cuachon, Provincial Health Office chief.
“Aklan province tallies an average five deaths due to COVID-19 a day,” Cuachon added.
Aklan has a total of 8,383 COVID-19 cases, of whom 6,544 have already recovered. It has 1,656 active cases, and 184 deaths. (CNN Philippines)
