Free Republic

A spike in the number of deaths in recent weeks has disrupted funeral arrangements and put mortuaries under unprecedented stress. An Irish Examiner analysis of death notices on the website rip.ie shows there were 9,718 published in the eight-week period from December 1, 2022, to January 25, 2023 — up 20% from 8,075 in the same period a year earlier. The figure is also considerably higher than the 8,135 death notices published in the same period to January 25, 2021, when the country was in the grip of the worst period of the Covid pandemic. Pre-pandemic, 6,802 death notices were...

A 3D-printing studio was set up at the Longhua Funeral Parlor in Xuhui District yesterday to repair bodies damaged in accidents, fires and natural disasters. “It is difficult for relatives to see incomplete faces or bodies of their loved ones when they attend memorial services, and makeup cannot always sufficiently repair them,” said Liu Fengming, an official with the Shanghai Funeral and Interment Service Center, which is affiliated with the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. The 3D-printing technology can be used to restore the appearance of bodies with about a 95 percent success rate in about a week, Liu said. After...