The burial offices raise the safety level of their employees and buy their own safety equipment when the deceased is taken to the last rest. Protective skirts, aprons, gloves, mouth filters, goggles but also bodybags are now standard.

"Body fluids can carry the infection forward," says Ulf Lernéus, the Swedish Burial Services Association.

In recent weeks, the Public Health Authority has given different reports on what applies when a person dies of the coronavirus.

Today, the recommendation is that the body be wrapped in fabric to minimize the risk of infection. It is not considered normal to place the body in a sealed, tight plastic bag that is unopened in the coffin, a sack or so-called bodybag.

But not using a funeral bag causes concern for the funeral contractors.

- When death occurs, all muscles relax. Body fluids such as saliva, urine and faeces run the risk of spreading infection, says Ulf Lernéus, press officer at the Swedish funeral home's association.

But the regions of the country make different judgments about what applies. In Region Uppsala, the body is to be placed in a suppository sack, but in the Stockholm region the body is covered only with sheets or blankets.

At Stockholm Hospital, the dead refrigeration area divides by several bodies and to minimize the risk of infection, the funeral contractors carry sacks in readiness, Thomas Thomsson says.

- Condensation, moisture and droplets are formed in the cooling compartment, which may spread infection. Nobody really knows anything about infection, so we are careful, ”he says.

Infection protection physician Per Follin explains why stinging sacks are not routine in the event of death of covid-19.

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