UK seeks cold-storage warehouse to hold bodies: sources

[LONDON] The UK government has begun a search for cold-storage warehouses to handle a possible overflow of dead bodies from the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the situation.

Real estate consultant Avison Young has been instructed to help the Crown Commercial Service look for several appropriate warehouse buildings of as much as 250,000 square feet (23,000 square metres), said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

The warehouses may not be needed but the search by the procurement agency reflects ramped-up UK contingency planning as the death toll from the coronavirus increases.

The government has already converted the London Excel Centre, an exhibition space, into a temporary hospital. It will start accepting patients infected with Covid-19 this week. Plans for London have included the possibility of a makeshift morgue in Hyde Park, according to lawmakers.

Moves by the government to ensure it can handle a rising death toll come as more than 500 people have died in each of the past two days, lifting the total UK death toll near 3,000. Government officials have predicted that the outbreak could peak within the next month.

A government spokesperson declined to comment directly on any special commercial arrangements with a third party but said: "We are working with local communities to undertake contingency planning so we can ensure the public are kept safe, and any tragic loss of life is handled with the utmost respect and care."

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A spokesperson for Avison Young declined to comment.

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