France coronavirus: Pictures reveal workings of Paris mortuary
The cost of Covid: Confronting photographs reveal the workings of a Paris mortuary as France battles a rising death toll amid fears of a third wave
- France’s Covid case and death toll are creeping up as fears of a third wave grow amid a slow vaccine roll-out
- Macron has shunned a third lockdown, but experts say current measures are merely ‘delaying the inevitable’
- Photographer Joel Sagat captured inside of Paris mortuary, as bodies in hard-hit city are prepared for burial
- Anti-lockdown protests are also growing, as restaurateurs vow to defy lockdowns and reopen for business
- WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT
The inner workings of a mortuary in Paris have been laid bare in a series of confronting photographs as France’s coronavirus case and death tolls steadily climb amid fears of a third wave of disease.
Photographer Joel Sagat was granted access to the mortuary of Beaujon Hospital in Paris where medics were preparing two bodies for burial.
The images show medical staff shaving and grooming the bodies, before dressing them and placing them in coffins ready for burial or cremation amid a pandemic that has seen the city’s death-toll soar.
France’s case and death tolls have been steadily climbing since a second national lockdown ended on December 15, though last week Emmanuel Macron refused to plunge the country into a third shutdown.
Instead, border restrictions were tightened amid fears of importing new and more-infectious variants of the virus, despite the objections of doctors who said the measures were merely ‘delaying the inevitable’.
France, like all EU countries, is also being plagued by a slow jabs roll-out that has been hindered by bureaucracy and in-fighting in Brussels, prolonging the country’s Covid agony.
Workers at the mortuary in Beaujon Hospital in Paris prepare a body for burial by blow-drying and combing the man’s hair, having already dressed him for viewing in his casket
A medical worker shaves the beard of a body at the Beaujon Hospital in Paris. While many believe that beards keep growing after death, in fact stubble remains the same length but the skin around it dries and retracts, meaning bodies are often shaved to give them the same appearance the person had in life
Mortuary workers dress two bodies for burial, including putting socks on one man before he is dressed in a shirt, jacket and trousers ready to be placed into his coffin
A range of makeup products sits inside drawers at the Beaujon Hospital in Paris, which workers will use to give the bodies an appearance similar to the one they had in life
Mortuary workers apply absorbent pads to the bodies of people at a mortuary in Paris, to prevent fluids from leaking on to their clothes were decomposition has already begun
Medical workers wrap the arms of one of the bodies in clingfilm, to prevent any fluids leaking from the skin and on to the clothes as the flesh decomposes
A medical worker prepares a suture which will be used to stitch the jaw of the bodies together, to stop the lower jaw from falling open. This, in addition to cotton wool padding and wires, will also allow them to set the features of the dead
A medical worker (left) stitches the jaws of a recently deceased person together while (right) another worker dresses a body in a shirt before adding a suit jacket and trousers
A fully-prepared body, including cups placed on the eyes to stop them deflating, is moved from the preparation room and into a mortuary fridge where it will be placed into a coffin
France’s pandemic death toll now stands at 76,201 after another 195 fatalities were reported on Sunday, the last day for which data is available, with another 19,235 cases reported on the same day.
Daily death and case tolls have now been rising near-continually since the country’s last lockdown ended on December 15 and was replaced by a system that includes night-time curfews and non-essential business closures.
Macron was mulling putting a third lockdown into place last week, but on Friday opted instead to shut borders to all non-EU migrants and increase testing requirements for those from inside the bloc.
The moves do not affect freight travel to or from the UK, where border closures before Christmas over the emergence of a new and more-infectious new variant of the disease cause chaos.
French leaders are wary of importing cases of the new variant, which pushed UK case and death tolls up to all-time highs and at one point saw Britain with the highest death rate in the world, before a new nationwide lockdown and rapid vaccine roll-out brought things under control.
But experts have warned that politicians are ‘only delaying the inevitable’ with epidemiologist Catherine Hill telling leaders that ‘hospitals will be inundated’ unless the country goes into a third full lockdown now.
‘These [measures] cannot break the current dynamic,’ she told France24. ‘The virus is already circulating in the country so it’s too late to close the borders.’
The new UK variant is also spreading rapidly, studies released last week confirm, and now accounts for some 2,000 new cases each day – up from around 500 at the beginning of January.
While the UK is vaccinating its way out of lockdown and out of the third wave – some 9.5million have now received at least one dose of vaccine – France has no immediate prospect of following suit, having jabbed just 1.5million.
With the EU’s vaccine roll-out hit by delays thanks to late-placed orders, under-investment in early development, and rows with drug-makers, mass vaccination is not expected to begin in Europe until March at the earliest.
Meanwhile, patience with lockdown measures used to control the virus in Europe is wearing ever-thinner, with French restaurant owners and workers the latest to rebel.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned restaurant owners Monday that they risked losing Covid-19 financial aid if they open in defiance of the pandemic shutdown, following calls to protest and serve clients.
Angry owners say their livelihoods are at risk since the closures were ordered on October 30, with little prospect of a return to business as usual anytime soon.
Several chefs and thousands of people have already backed a call by Stephane Turillon, a chef in eastern France, for restaurants to open for protest meals on Monday.
‘It’s extremely hard for restaurants, economically and in terms of morale,’ Le Maire told RTL radio.
‘But in no way does that justify not respecting the rules,’ he said.
On Saturday, police in Paris said they discovered 24 restaurants operating illicitly on Thursday and Friday, and warned they would step up controls.
The Parisien newspaper reported Monday that one restaurant shut down on Friday was serving judges who worked at the nearby appeals court on the Ile de la Cite, just opposite from the Paris police headquarters.
Le Maire said owners caught serving clients would see their Covid solidarity funds suspended for a month, ‘and if they do it again, they won’t get any more at all’.
In Belgium, police detained more than 200 people taking part in two banned protests against anti-virus measures.
Polish police raided discos that defied restrictions on Saturday, using stun grenades and tear gas to clear dance floors.
In the Netherlands, which in recent days has seen violent protests against coronavirus curbs protesters Amsterdam police cleared out the city’s famous museum square after some 600 people gathered there for an illegal protest.
Thousands of protestors marched through the Austrian capital Vienna to protest coronavirus restrictions there, ignoring a police ban on the march and many shunning masks and social distancing. The march was organised by the far-right FPOe party.
In Brazil, protestors marched in several cities Sunday to condemn President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the crisis.
‘The result of this mismanagement is more than 220,000 Covid deaths,’ Ruth Venceremos, an LGBTQ activist taking part in the protest, told AFP. ‘Enough with Bolsonaro – impeachment now!’
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews meanwhile defied Israel’s coronavirus restrictions to attend a rabbi’s funeral on Sunday.
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