More than 960 coffins arrived in Hong Kong by sea and land over the past four days to supplement the supply, the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department said today.

The department and the Food & Health Bureau have been offering assistance to coffin suppliers in Hong Kong during the past two weeks. Over 2,170 coffins have arrived in Hong Kong smoothly by land and sea since March 14.

It is expected that further batches of nearly 1,050 coffins will arrive in the coming five days.

The department thanked the Mainland for its help, adding that it will continue to co-ordinate proactively to ensure a stable supply of coffins in the city.

Separately, the department has been maintaining close liaison with the trade to streamline the workflow for the handling of after-death arrangements smoothly.

The department expressed its appreciation to Tung Wah Group of Hospitals for deploying its Global Funeral Parlour as the designated parlour for viewing ceremonies for those who died of COVID-19. It appealed to the funeral trade to support and collaborate to offer assistance to families in need.

Following a number of webinars, the department has issued letters to the funeral trade to inform them of the progress made in response to their feedback.

Additionally, some benevolent organisations intend to donate anti-epidemic supplies such as rapid antigen test kits to funeral trade frontline workers. The department will keep funeral parlour and undertaker licensees posted of details in due course.

The department had earlier significantly increased the daily cremation sessions available for booking to the current 260 to 300. There are still sufficient cremation sessions left for reservation.

It also increased manpower to handle cremation service bookings.

The department noted that all its crematoria will continue to provide cremation services on Ching Ming Festival, ie April 5.

Click here for the festival's special traffic and transport arrangements.