The coronavirus pandemic has killed many people around the world, but in Norway confinement measures have left many funeral companies out of work and have been forced to turn to the state to stay afloat.

Confinement has led to a decline in mortality in Norway and the cancellation of funeral ceremonies. As a result of the country's success in fighting Covid-19 , half a dozen Norwegian funeral homes have been forced to ask for help, according to public records.

The Lande family accompanies the dead to their last resting place for three generations. And they had never seen anything like it. "When the coronavirus measures arrived, it turned out that they were effective not only against the coronavirus, but also against other viruses," Erik Lande , head of the family business in the south of the country , told Afp . "To such an extent that a part of the elderly and the sick who would have died in normal times have volatilized," he adds.

From about 30 a month normally, the number of billed coffins, he said, dropped to less than ten in the weeks following a semi-confinement regime. And none by Covid.

On March 12, Norway imposed the "most intrusive" measures it has ever known in times of peace: closing schools, bars and many public spaces, banning sporting and cultural events, reducing foreign travel ...

These measures have helped curb the epidemic, unlike neighboring Sweden , which has opted for a much more flexible approach where the virus persists.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Of the approximately 573,000 deaths worldwide from the disease, only 253 have been recorded in Norway. The country of 5.4 million people no longer has Covid-19 patients in intensive care and only a handful of people are still hospitalized.

Probably due to the isolation of the elderly and the respect for barrier gestures, mortality seems to have even decreased. Norway accounted for 6% fewer deaths in May than a year earlier, and 13% in June.

In Oslo , Verd Begravelsesbyra has received almost 37,000 crowns (3,450 euros) in public aid after the bump in his business, not because of a drop in the number of funerals, but because of a change in format.

"With the emergence of the coronavirus , many clients have given up on the ceremony," emphasizes CEO Henrik Tveter , who points out that it represents "60 to 70%" of the funeral price. By choice, to avoid contagion, but also because the authorities limited the maximum number of participants for a time and some chapels are too small to guarantee physical distance.

In Ålesund (west) Alfa Begravelsesbyra has, for a time, put its five employees partially unemployed and has turned to the state after its turnover fell 70% between March and May.

But like her colleagues, with a return to normality, the owner of Odd Sverre Oie sees the light at the end of the tunnel. "We know that, given the age pyramid, a certain number of people will die in Norway this year," he says. "So we will surely recover in the fall when the flu and other such illnesses reappear."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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