Deaths at Shanghai Elderly Facility Spark a Dispute Over Cremation

Families of patients who died recently at Shanghai’s biggest elderly-care facility are demanding to know whether a Covid-19 outbreak that hit in the past few weeks led to their deaths, with some refusing a request by the hospital to cremate the bodies. At least 20 patients died in recent weeks at the Donghai Elderly Care Hospital, according to members of several families, who said they are still trying to understand why. The facility asked for the families’ agreement in the past few days to cremate the bodies that were being kept in the hospital morgue, the relatives said. Several relatives said while some families had agreed, fearing the bodies would start to decompose, they had refused, demanding to protect evidence that might show how the deaths happened. One of the families said they had demanded an autopsy.