Some hospitals are using outdoor refrigerators to preserve bodies, as mortuaries try and cope with a rise in the number of deaths during the coronavirus crisis.

Large outdoor temporary cold rooms have been set up at Watford General and Hemel Hempstead hospitals, with the capacity of 400 bodies between the two sites, to handle the increased number of deaths compared to before the pandemic.

The refrigerated units have been established for a few weeks, and have been used - and continue to be used according to the trust - to store the bodies of some hospital patients who have died - with or without Covid-19. 

The hospital is also taking bodies from elsewhere in Hertfordshire.

West Hertfordshire NHS Trust, which as of May 7 has recorded 311 Covid-19 deaths, is not the only trust to adopt these new measures.

It is understood that in total, the Watford General Hospital morgue holds the capacity for 213 people, 104 of which is classed as 'business as usual', while 109 are for Covid-19 patients.

As of data from last week, 37 of the 109 spaces for Covid-19 patients at the mortuary were active.

NHS England records show that April 4 recorded the most coronavirus deaths in any one day at the trust - 15.

Latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows the increased number in deaths (all causes) of residents in the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust catchment area, since the time around the first coronavirus death at Watford General (March 9). 

In the first ten weeks of this year, 457 residents living in Watford, Three Rivers, Hertsmere, Dacorum, and St Albans died in a hospital.

Since the week beginning March 7, and as of April 24, 589 residents living in these five boroughs have died in a hospital.

This works out as an average of 6.5 deaths each day over the first ten weeks, and 16.8 each day between March 7 and April 24.

But between May 1 and May 6, NHS data shows there has been an average of 3.1 coronavirus deaths each day at the trust during that period.

Chief operating officer Sally Tucker said: "Our mortuary and emergency planning teams have managed the trust’s mortuary capacity extremely well during the pandemic in spite of the increase in numbers of deaths.

"We added extra capacity at Watford General and Hemel Hempstead hospitals which has provided over 400 spaces across both sites.

"It should be noted that the trust also supports mortuary capacity for Hertfordshire community deaths.

"The units were provided and installed further to national provision planning guidance and this guidance will determine when they are eventually taken out of use."

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