UK health workers are wrapping corpses in bedsheets as body bag supplies run low

• Stocks of body bags are running low in the UK.
• Mortuary suppliers told BBC News that they don't have standard body bags left to sell.
• The shortage means that some healthcare workers are wrapping corpses in bedsheets instead.
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UK healthcare workers are wrapping up corpses of coronavirus patients in bedsheets as the country runs low on body bags, according to BBC News.

Mortuary suppliers told BBC News that the standard zippered body bags, which are used to transport the corpses, are in short supply because customers stockpiled them early on due to the growing coronavirus concerns. The products are made in China, and it will take six weeks to ship them to the UK, according to the network.

"We ran out of body bags but still the dead were arriving from the wards," Sally Goodright, a nurse in a west London hospital, wrote on Facebook Monday viewed by BBC News. The post was later removed.

The UK National Health Service told BBC News that it has an adequate stock of body bags, and didn't dispute that some healthcare workers were using sheets.

A spokesperson for Barber Medical, which holds the NHS contract for mortuary supplies, told BBC News that it could not source the preferred zippered bags from anywhere, but it has increased the availability of polythene bags, which are known as "body pouch" bags.

Since the coronavirus spreads through the respiratory system, the bodies of people stricken by it must be handled with care. And while the zippered bags might be practical, they're not required to move a body, according to the agency's guidelines.

"Placing a cloth or mask over the mouth of the deceased when moving them can help to prevent the release of aerosols," guidance from the agency says.

Another mortuary supplier, which the BBC didn't name, told the network that NHS trusts and funeral directors were "horrified" by the official advice saying it's safe to move a body without body bags, and that they were desperate to obtain more.

To meet the need, some firms have tried to make their own body bags locally. But that's been a challenge as well because it's hard to find the necessary plastic fibers.

William Quail, managing director of mortuary supplies firm Mortuary Equipment Direct, hired a team of people to sew between 150 and 200 body bags a day, but told BBC News he was struggling to get the products to hospitals because of the price.

Bags made in China only cost £9, or around $11, while those made in the UK are around £57.50, or $72, according to the network.

"Dignity is the word," Quail told BBC News. "I don't think £57 would seem very much if it was your mother or father. I understand they are more expensive, but what is a body worth to treat it with respect."

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