An employee of the Lantz funeral company looks at his phone as he prepares a coffin April 1, 2020, in Mulhouse, eastern France. AFP
An employee of the Lantz funeral company looks at his phone as he prepares a coffin April 1, 2020, in Mulhouse, eastern France. AFP
A lift truck loads wood at the coffin manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey. Reuters
A lift truck loads wood at the coffin manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
A paint robot finishes a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
A paint robot finishes a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee works on a coffin at the manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France. Reuters
An employee loads coffins in a truck at a manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey. Reuters
An employee loads coffins in a truck at a manufacturing plant OGF in Jussey. Reuters
Employees of Lantz funeral directors carry a coffin containing a corpse infected by the Covid-19 into a hearse in Mulhouse, eastern France. AFP
Employees of Lantz funeral directors carry a coffin containing a corpse infected by the Covid-19 into a hearse in Mulhouse, eastern France. AFP

Europe

French coffin makers struggle to keep up with demand as deaths soar

With nearly 60,000 confirmed cases and 5,387 deaths, funeral parlors are struggling to bury the dead

Reuters

April 03, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

Two hauliers load their lorries with what is fast becoming a precious commodity in France as the coronavirus pandemic takes its dreadful toll - coffins.

While most businesses have shut their doors as part of a national lockdown designed to slow the spread of the disease, the coffin-making factory in the sleepy town of Jussey in north-east France can barely keep up with the orders.

France has confirmed nearly 60,000 cases of the coronavirus and as of Friday 5,387 deaths, the fourth-highest tally in the world.

"Given what's happening, the pace of production is going up by 50 coffins a day," said Emmanuel Garret, manager at the OGF plant. "We're going up from 360 to 410."

The group, which also has a factory near the Alps in eastern France, churns out about 144,000 coffins a year, making it the country's biggest producer.

The Jussey plant manufactures 80,000 oak and pine caskets for the French market. It is not short of wood as there are about 60 square kilometres of forest in the adjacent area.

The town of just 1,600 inhabitants lies between Paris and the east of France, regions at the epicentre of the outbreak that account for more than half of the country's death toll.

"It's clear that in terms of activity, it's where the demand is now strongest," Mr Garret said.

Inside the factory, the 120 employees beaver away assembling coffins that usually sell for between 700 euros (Dh 2,775) to 5,000 euros (Dh 19,821) apiece.

That will change as the surge in demand has pushed the plant to focus on the simpler units, Mr Garret said.

Keeping a safe distance from each other and regularly disinfecting the workspace, the employees all wear masks. The company commissioned local seamstresses to make them due to a chronic shortage caused by the global pandemic.

Quick turnaround

People get their temperature checked by health workers as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus in Bogota, Colombia. Latin America had more than 20,000 cases of Covid-19 as of April 1, 2020 - double the figure from five days earlier, according to an AFP tally. AFP
People get their temperature checked by health workers as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus in Bogota, Colombia. Latin America had more than 20,000 cases of Covid-19 as of April 1, 2020 - double the figure from five days earlier, according to an AFP tally. AFP
A worker performs a swab test on a desk at the Duduza Clinic that has been shut down after a nurse tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Ekurhuleni, South Africa. AFP
A worker performs a swab test on a desk at the Duduza Clinic that has been shut down after a nurse tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Ekurhuleni, South Africa. AFP
A municipal worker disinfects a quarantined homeless shelter in El Salvador's capital San Salvador. AFP
A municipal worker disinfects a quarantined homeless shelter in El Salvador's capital San Salvador. AFP
Japanese tuba player Kazuhiko Sato records himself at his home in Tokyo as members of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra prepare for their latest recital. AFP
Japanese tuba player Kazuhiko Sato records himself at his home in Tokyo as members of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra prepare for their latest recital. AFP
People maintain safe distancing while queueing to enter a supermarket in Grand Baie, Mauritius. AFP
People maintain safe distancing while queueing to enter a supermarket in Grand Baie, Mauritius. AFP
Protective masks bearing the names of medical staff are pinned to a wall at a field hospital for coronavirus patients, financed by US evangelical Christian disaster relief NGO Samaritan’s Purse, outside the Cremona hospital, Lombardy, Italy. AFP
Protective masks bearing the names of medical staff are pinned to a wall at a field hospital for coronavirus patients, financed by US evangelical Christian disaster relief NGO Samaritan’s Purse, outside the Cremona hospital, Lombardy, Italy. AFP
A woman wears a face mask as she takes a photo of blossoms at Yuyuantan Park in Beijing. AP Photo
A woman wears a face mask as she takes a photo of blossoms at Yuyuantan Park in Beijing. AP Photo
A shop window in Grosse Pointe Woods, in the US state of Michigan. AP Photo
A shop window in Grosse Pointe Woods, in the US state of Michigan. AP Photo
A municipal worker sprays disinfectant at a school in Dakar, Senegal. AP Photo
A municipal worker sprays disinfectant at a school in Dakar, Senegal. AP Photo
Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, wears a protective mask during a plenary session at the upper house of parliament in Tokyo. Bloomberg
Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, wears a protective mask during a plenary session at the upper house of parliament in Tokyo. Bloomberg
An employee holds up an Ichroma Covid-19 Ab testing kit at the Boditech Med headquarters in Chuncheon, South Korea. Bloomberg
An employee holds up an Ichroma Covid-19 Ab testing kit at the Boditech Med headquarters in Chuncheon, South Korea. Bloomberg
Police officers wear protective face masks as they direct traffic through a checkpoint in Barcelona, Spain. Bloomberg
Police officers wear protective face masks as they direct traffic through a checkpoint in Barcelona, Spain. Bloomberg
A medical worker takes a swap at a coronavirus drive-through testing centre in the car park of the closed Chessington World of Adventures Resort theme park in Chessington, Greater London. Bloomberg
A medical worker takes a swap at a coronavirus drive-through testing centre in the car park of the closed Chessington World of Adventures Resort theme park in Chessington, Greater London. Bloomberg
Pedestrians pull trolley bags along a nearly deserted street in Palermo, Italy. Bloomberg
Pedestrians pull trolley bags along a nearly deserted street in Palermo, Italy. Bloomberg

While the conveyor belts turn and robots finish off the varnishing in Jussey, more than 300 km away in Paris, preparations are underway for a wave of deaths with more than 2,200 people on life-support in regional hospitals.

At the Rungis food market, the largest in Europe, local authorities on Friday were converting a hall into a mortuary to hold 1,000 coffins and side rooms for families to say farewell to their loved ones for the last time.

"This is not a video game, this is reality," Paris police chief Didier Lallement said. The makeshift morgue was to ensure there would be capacity if needed, he added.

Nathalie Vounikoglou, saleswoman for Bernier, one of the five casket distributors in the Paris region, said demand from funeral parlours had jumped by 20 per cent in the past two weeks.

"We have occasional shortages of low-end models in standard size because there are no more ceremonies and so families go for the least expensive," she said.

Some nursing homes and hospitals do not want to hold onto the bodies of coronavirus patients, Ms Vounikoglou said, meaning there has to be a quicker turnaround.

Funeral parlours are ordering coffins at a day's notice rather than the four or five previously, out of concern they could fall short.

"For the moment, we are restocking for the next morning," Ms Vounikoglou said.

In The Heights

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda

Rating: ****

What are the influencer academy modules?
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About Tenderd

Started: May 2018

Founder: Arjun Mohan

Based: Dubai

Size: 23 employees 

Funding: Raised $5.8m in a seed fund round in December 2018. Backers include Y Combinator, Beco Capital, Venturesouq, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Paul Buchheit, Justin Mateen, Matt Mickiewicz, SOMA, Dynamo and Global Founders Capital

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Uefa Champions League play-off

First leg: Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Ajax v Dynamo Kiev

Second leg: Tuesday, August 28, 11pm (UAE)
Dynamo Kiev v Ajax

The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars

Tips for used car buyers
  • Choose cars with GCC specifications
  • Get a service history for cars less than five years old
  • Don’t go cheap on the inspection
  • Check for oil leaks
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  • Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
  • If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell

Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE tour of Zimbabwe

All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – UAE won by 36 runs
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
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THE SPECS

Engine: AMG-enhanced 3.0L inline-6 turbo with EQ Boost and electric auxiliary compressor

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The biog

Year of birth: 1988

Place of birth: Baghdad

Education: PhD student and co-researcher at Greifswald University, Germany

Hobbies: Ping Pong, swimming, reading

 

 

Dhadak 2

Director: Shazia Iqbal

Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri 

Rating: 1/5

While you're here:
Pandemic Parenting
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
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On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness' 

   

 

Director: Sam Raimi

 

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams

 

Rating: 3/5

 
About Krews

Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Founded: January 2019

Number of employees: 10

Sector: Technology/Social media 

Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support