Work has started on a temporary mortuary at Birmingham Airport which could hold up to 12,000 bodies if the worst-case Covid-19 scenario is realised.
The hangar facility is being set up to accommodate 1,500 bodies in the event that the coronavirus outbreak overloads the country's current capacity.
If the deadly bug continues to claim lives at an increasing daily rate however, the site could be expanded to accommodate 12,000 bodies.
The airport is next to Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre (NEC), which will become a temporary hospital, the government confirmed this evening.
The new site could ultimately take on all deaths across the region, including those unrelated to coronavirus, according to the West Midlands and Warwickshire strategic co-ordination group, made up of police, councils and other agencies.
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Regional mortuaries may close to free up staff to work at the airport facility.
The West Midlands has emerged as a hotspot for people testing positive for the coronavirus.
Latest official data recording deaths of those who had contracted Covid-19 showed that 40 of the 115 people who died in the most recent period - 34% - had come from the region.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council has been co-ordinating scoping, on behalf of all West Midlands and Warwickshire local authorities, to find possible sites for temporary mortuary space.
Other sites, including one in Rugby, Warwickshire, and the NEC itself, had been suggested as possible locations, before the option to use the airport site became available.
The sprawling airport site includes a vast cargo hub, with several large hangers on the opposite side of the airstrip from its two main passenger terminals.
The Government is making £1.6 billion available to councils to deal with pressures on existing services from responding to coronavirus.
The plans are being co-ordinated on behalf of councils in Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Sandwell, Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and across Warwickshire.
Deputy leader of Sandwell Council Wasim Ali said: "In reality, we have to prepare for the worst as local councils.
"We've seen the numbers of deaths just keep rising. If it does get to that point, we have to be prepared.
"It's a big logistics operation, so we have to take that decision to start the planning."
He added: "We really don't want to have to use it, but if we do, then it'll be available."
Mr Ali said a plan is needed because municipal mortuaries could run out of space.
The back-up mortuary would also give grieving families a breathing space to make funeral arrangements, if the system is placed under great strain, delaying how many burials can take place.
He said staff at the hospital - and elsewhere in the health service - are working incredibly hard and need the public to help by staying at home, cutting non-essential journeys and following self-isolation rules.
Mr Ali added: "The clapping yesterday was phenomenal - people are coming together and understanding how important the NHS is.
"It is times like this that make you realise that fact, and we need that support to keep coming."
A Birmingham Airport spokeswoman said: "We have been in discussions with the authorities and we will of course co-operate to find a suitable location and help where we can to support the fight back against this pandemic."
