By Genevieve Serra, Tanya Waterworth 
Jul 3, 2021
Share this article:
As the third wave sweeps through the country, undertakers in parts of the country have now ordered additional coffins, hoping they will not run out of stock as they did during the second wave.
The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that cases in Africa had increased in the past six weeks, with deaths rising by 15% across 38 African countries to nearly 3 000 in the same period.
The WHO said yesterday that the Delta variant was more contagious and was estimated to be between 30 to 60% more transmissible than other variants. It is now the most dominant variant and accounted for more than half of Africa’s cases up until June 27.
“It is in three of the five countries reporting the highest case loads for the week ending 27 June. And it is dominant in South Africa, which accounted for more than half of Africa’s cases in the same period.”
Undertakers in KwaZulu-Natal have said that while there had not yet been an increase in demand for caskets in the province, they were bracing for a surge in the demand.
Chairperson of the KZN branch of the SA Funeral Practitioners’ Association and CEO of the Icebolethu Group, Nomfundo Mcoyi, said yesterday: “We have not seen numbers rising in any uncontrolled or unique way, but we are expecting a rise.
“Winter is always the peak period for the industry anyway, despite Covid. We are waiting to see what will happen over the next few weeks,” she said.
KZN Undertakers Forum vice-chairman Ahmed Paruk said there had not been an increase in demand so far, but that the industry was retaining stock ahead of an expected increase.
“(On Thursday), there were under 10 (funerals) but the industry is geared up and we have more than enough stock,” said Paruk, adding that while some practitioners were releasing stock to Gauteng, many were now keeping their stock in reserve.
“In KZN we will manage the storm, we have taken our lessons from the previous two waves,” said Paruk, adding that caskets were not used in Muslim burials.
Clare Estate Umgeni Hindu Crematorium Society secretary Thegraj Kassie said that at present there was no shortage of coffins.
“We have seen a slight increase in the number of funerals this week. We are gearing up and have had a meeting with our staff,” said Kassie, adding that the challenge faced during the previous two Covid waves was burials being delayed because of a backlog, but that was dealt with as efficiently as possible.
Western Cape Muslim Undertakers’ Forum chairperson Ebrahim Solomons took to social media this week in a seven-minute video, begging Muslims to adhere to Covid-19 regulations and filmed burial preparations taking place at Taronga Road Mosque in Crawford last week.
Undertakers in that province said they were conducting up to 91 Covid-19 related funerals a week.
Dr Salim Parker from the University of Cape Town’s division of infectious diseases and HIV medicine, said the mortality rate for people with Indian ancestry had a 35% increased risk of dying from the virus when hospitalised while black Africans and coloureds had a 23 to 24% higher risk of death when hospitalised for Covid-19.
This is attributed to religious gatherings such as Eid or burials.
“This heightened risk is independent of other underlying risk factors such as diabetes, which is highly prevalent in people of Indian ancestry compared with whites.
“Compared with all other race groups, South Africans of Indian ancestry have an 11% increased risk of death following Covid-19 hospitalisation.”
The Independent on Saturday