Cremations at a record high
2 February 2021
The City of Cape Town’s Maitland Crematorium is experiencing an exceptionally high demand for cremations as a result of the second wave of COVID-19. The crematorium is operating at full capacity, but due to the volume, may experience delays in having ashes available for collection.
‘The demand for cremations is almost three times more than before the pandemic. Although burials still remain high, this is on a downward trend with 500 the past week. While this is good news, the bad news is that people use it as an opportunity to relax health protocols and forgo wearing masks and regular hand washing. The possibility of further waves is real and we cannot allow ourselves to be caught off guard,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
In the last week, City cemeteries have facilitated 500 burials of which approximately 12% were confirmed COVID-19 burials. Of the 500 burials, 150 occurred at Maitland Cemetery, 92 at Welmoed and 87 at Klip Road Cemetery in Grassy Park.
For the past three weeks, the Maitland Crematorium has had its highest numbers of cremations recorded since the start of the pandemic reaching up to 250 cremations per week. This has been consistently high since the beginning of the second wave and the facility will remain operating at maximum capacity for approximately three more weeks.
The City has considered and implemented all available options to further increase capacity at the crematorium. These include the extended operating hours, installing additional temporary storage capacity and seeking authorisation from the Provincial Air Emissions Authority to operate the older cremators at the facility.
With the additional capacity available for use from this week onwards, it is anticipated that more cremations will be processed daily to ease the backlog and alleviate pressure on the system.
It is important to note that while the City has optimised capacity, the extraordinarily high demand is still exceeding the capacity of the facility and the crematorium will be unable to meet the normal 72-hour turnaround time which is the normal standard for cremations.
The City will continue to seek alternative mechanisms to further increase the capacity of the crematorium and is working closely with the Western Cape Provincial Air Emissions Authority in this regard.
‘We recorded 49 funerals at Maitland on Saturday and I want to encourage families to consider alternative days as this will ease congestion. Adhere to the protocols so we can ensure the safety of all our loved ones,’ said CouncillorBadroodien.
Issued by Media Office, City of Cape Town, 2 February 2021
