Funerals to be increasingly live-streamed due to coronavirus

Tea, biscuits and the after-funeral gathering might be out temporarily but funerals can otherwise proceed as normal with the help of technology, say undertakers. Photo / 123rf

Funerals are going ahead but Kiwis are being urged to scale them back and livestream the service to as many guests as possible.

Guests had already started "self-policing" as a result of the coronavirus, with undertakers reporting numbers down this month at big funerals where 200 or more mourners would have been expected at other times, Funeral Directors Association president Gary Taylor said.

Yet, despite Government rules requiring no gatherings of more than 100 people indoors, Taylor said it was important Kiwis knew funerals could still take place largely as normal.

"Particularly in a time like this, funerals are an integral part of that ability to have a meaningful farewell and mark the occasion of someone's life," he said.

"And certainly if we saw deaths increase because of Covid-19 that need would increase even more."

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Taylor said funeral parlours were advising people they should arrange funerals in much the same way they always do.

But maybe altering, first of all, scaling back the number of people physically attending the funeral, perhaps to members of the family or invited guests only, he said.

"And then there are a number of options such as live-streaming the funeral."

Taylor said his team had been able to live-stream funerals for the last seven to eight years, and that most parlours now had the technology.

"It is an ideal solution to the current situation."

"It allows for a much smaller group to be physically present but an infinite number to partake in what's going on from online."

The association also had new advice going out tomorrow in which it would advise all funeral parlours to now keep a register of people attending each funeral.

"It means that should the situation arise where one of the attendees does either end up in isolation or contracting the virus, all the people at the service can be contacted and whatever advice or medical treatment they need can be offered to them."

Certainly the cup of tea or gathering afterwards is probably going to be curtailed and numbers at funerals will definitely be curtailed, Taylor said.

"But we are very keen to let people know that funerals can be arranged in exactly the same way, it is just how we deliver those funerals that is going to alter slightly."

For more details on all of the confirmed cases and their travel details, go to the Ministry of Health website.