FEHD urges sectors of funeral business and bereaved families to handle after-death arrangements as early as possible

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (March 2) said that its five crematoria have significantly increased their cremation sessions and extended service hours till the evening. The FEHD urged sectors of the funeral business and bereaved families of the deceased to handle after-death arrangements as early as possible. The FEHD will organise an online talk for the sectors of funeral business tomorrow (March 3) during which the Centre for Health Protection is invited to brief on the precautionary measures in handling of dead bodies.

The FEHD had earlier written to the sectors of funeral business and garnered their support to assist the bereaved families to expedite the after-death arrangements and collection of dead bodies, with a view to alleviating the pressure on public mortuaries and hospital mortuaries.

A spokesman for the FEHD said,"In response to the recent keen demand for cremation services, the FEHD has increased the daily cremation sessions from 130-140 to the current 180-200. All crematoria (except Cheung Chau) have extended their service hours till after 8pm in order to offer more sessions for the public. Currently, there is still capacity of the cremation sessions which will be further increased as and when necessary."

In addition, the spokesman added that the Department of Health, the Hospital Authority and the FEHD jointly promulgated the "Precautions for Handling and Disposal of Dead Bodies" in February 2020, which provided guidelines on handling of dead bodies to the funeral business sectors . Furthermore, the FEHD wrote to all licensed undertakers and funeral parlours in February 2020 reminding them to adopt the aforesaid guidelines when handling the dead bodies of persons infected with COVID-19 virus.

The FEHD will organise an online talk tomorrow (March 3) afternoon with sectors of funeral business and CHP invited, to exchange views on funeral matters and precautionsary measures for handling of dead bodies.

Ends/Wednesday, March 2, 2022