Hurried cremation and curbed mourning rituals in Wuhan distress families of Covid-19 victims
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She had symptoms of the disease, caused by the novel coronavirus, but test kits were not readily available at the time.
On January 14, three days after being admitted to hospital, she was put on a ventilator. She died the next day.
Hui’s older brother saw the last glimpse of their mother through a glass door as she was being wheeled into an isolation ward.
A few days later, she was wheeled out wrapped in a yellow body bag that the family was forbidden to open because of infection concerns.
Her burial arrangements were hurried. A funeral home picked up the body and cremated it. The same day, the family took the ashes to a local cemetery where the remains were buried instantly and without a ceremony.
“Normally in Wuhan, we would hold a memorial service in the morning for family and friends to say goodbye to the deceased, before cremating the body. After the ashes are buried, the family usually hosts a luncheon, then it’s considered complete,” Hui said. “What we did [for my mother] was extremely irregular.”