Pallbearers from W. Uden & Sons bow their heads to a coffin during a funeral service in Bromley, amid the coronavirus pandemic, in south east London, Britain. Photos: Reuters
With the deceased arriving faster than they can be cremated or buried, the company's own mortuaries are packed with coffins, many pinned with a sign:"COVID-19 - TAKE PRECAUTIONS." Staff at funeral homes play vital roles in the battle against the pandemic, but often get less recognition than doctors, nurses and other frontline workers.
The company was founded in Victorian times, when London endured regular epidemics of smallpox and cholera. Today, it has seven branches in the capital and the neighbouring county of Kent, where a deadlier and more transmissible variant of coronavirus emerged late last year. None of Uden's staff have caught the virus, which he credits to extra precautions the company has taken.
In the mortuary, embalmer Mary Evans wears heavy duty personal protective equipment as she prepares the body of elderly Covid victim, and doesn't move the body more than necessary in case the lungs expel infected air droplets.