A Thai hospital morgue overwhelmed by COVID-19 deaths has begun storing bodies in refrigerated containers, resorting to a measure it last took in a devastating 2004 tsunami, as the country grapples with its biggest coronavirus outbreak.
Thailand on Saturday reported a daily record of 18,912 new cases and a record of 178 new deaths, bringing total accumulated cases to 597,287 and 4,857 fatalities.
"There's not enough space, so we bought two containers for bodies' storage," Pharuhat Tor-udom, a director of the hospital, told Reuters, adding the containers cost about 250,000 baht each.Almost 20% of bodies with an unidentified cause of death later tested positive for COVID-19, overwhelming the morgue and medical staff, he said.
There were several bodies kept in one container on Saturday, waiting to be retrieved by their relatives, he said.
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