Italy In Bergamo province, heavily influenced by Covid-19, cremation stations recently started operating 24/7.

The coffin was housed in two hospital morgue, a cemetery and now even inside a cemetery church. The daily obituary of the local newspaper increased from two or three pages to ten, sometimes with 150 names. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper likened it to a "war news".

Only in the number of deaths, Covid-19 caused a "historical disaster" in Bergamo. Across the province, patients were taken in ambulances, transported to hospitals and died in isolation areas where their relatives were not allowed to enter.

Many funerals take place only in the presence of a priest and a funeral home, as deceased family members are subject to a ban on gathering, quarantined or unable to attend due to being too weak. because of virus infection.

"I think things are worse than a war," Marta Testa, 43, said. Testa is in isolation and her father recently died at age 85 on 11/3 because of nCoV infection. "My father is waiting to be buried. We are waiting to say goodbye to him."

Covid-19 has so far killed more than 2,100 people in Italy, half of whom died in the past five days. Most of them were like Mr. Renzo, Mrs. Testa's father, were taken to the hospital and no longer had the opportunity to see their faces or say their last words to their families.

Testa's parents have been married for 50 years. Her mother also appears to be infected with nCoV but is recovering. Testa's siblings brought food to their mothers, but only dared to leave it in the front door for fear of spreading the virus.

"Currently, everything in my family is stagnating," she said.

The speed of spreading the disease in Italy is at the highest level in the world. Italy on March 17 detected more than 3,000 people infected with nCoV, bringing the total number of cases to nearly 28,000, the number of deaths more than doubled in less than a week, to more than 2,100.

Bergamo, a wealthy province with 1.1 million people in the eastern part of Milan, has become the most worrying outbreak. The hospital became overcrowded, forcing the government to mobilize military surgeons to assist.

Residents describe Bergamo as a "ghost land", where only ambulances and funerals go on the road at night. In the small town of Nembro, according to the newspaper Corriere della Sera, more than 70 people have died from nCoV in the past 12 days, while last year, the town recorded only 120 deaths.

"It was as if a chemical bomb had just exploded," said Daniela Taiocchi, 49, who wrote an obituary for the local newspaper L'Eco di Bergamo.

Bergamo's situation is also a testament to how Covid-19 can break out when control measures are not implemented quickly.

Italy responded to the first outbreak in Lodi province by blocking 10 small towns from three weeks ago. But the government waits too long to take similar measures elsewhere. Bergamo now reports three times more cases of nCoV infection than Lodi.

"The morgue and medical facilities are collapsing," said Claudia Scotti, owner of a funeral home. "We are completely unprepared for an emergency like this."

Those who died appearing on the 10 obituary pages of the newspaper L'Eco di Bergamo were politicians, pastors, electrical engineers or emergency dispatchers. Most were in their 70s or 80s. Short obituary lines did not specify the reason for the death, but most people knew it well. 90% died because of Covid-19.

Instead, the obituary has other clues as to how funerals are performed in times of crisis. They mentioned that the dead "were transferred directly to the crematorium", a public ceremony would be held "on an unspecified date" or a funeral would be "completely private".

Throughout Italy, the organization of funerals inside the church has been banned. This is part of a government ban on gathering. In Bergamo, people are allowed to organize small burial ceremonies at the cemetery with no more than 10 people attending.

The Bergamo government encouraged cremation of the dead because of Covid-19. Starting March 11, local crematoriums are open 24/7.

According to Alberto Ceresoli, editor of L'Eco di Bergamo newspaper, Italy is experiencing a "collective tragedy" and Covid-19 has "devastated" where he lives. He once thought of turning the obituary on the back of the newspaper to avoid overreaching the reader. But in the end, Ceresoli decided that readers needed to see what was going on, so the name of the dead had to appear in the middle of the newspaper.

The name and portrait of Renzo Testa appeared in the March 13 issue of L'Eco di Bergamo next to the line quoted Pope Francis. Below the photo shows basic information about his family and his contributions to society.

Renzo was still healthy before he was infected with nCoV, his daughter said. "There is no underlying pathology," she said. "We always thought he was very strong, he was going to overcome it, but clearly, hope was lost."

The hospital called Testa at midnight on 11/3 to inform her father that she had passed away. His coffin was taken to a church, waiting for his cremation. If the process of cremation took place early, he would leave without the presence of his wife and children.

Testa said her family still plans to hold a ceremony to commemorate him but "in a better place and time".