The final few snagging jobs were still in progress at the end of a lightning conversion of railway arches into an emergency morgue as the first bodies arrived.
A smell of fresh paint hung in the air; a few toolboxes lay on the concrete floor. The nearby East London Mosque had transformed the space, normally used to store vehicles, into a Covid-19 mortuary in a little over a fortnight.
Two coffins were unloaded from a van and wheeled on trolleys through to a refrigerated space at the back of the premises, containing metal racks capable of holding 24 corpses. There was room for dozens more if needed.
The coffins contained the remains of two men of Moroccan descent who had died of coronavirus at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington. They had been brought to Whitechapel through the capital’s unusually quiet streets by Haji Taslim Funerals, London’s oldest Muslim funeral service, which is based at the mosque.
In the spotless refrigerated room, the coffin lids were carefully removed to allow morgue attendants to perform a dry purification ritual, tayammum, using a special sandstone, on the shrouded bodies. The morgue has a section in which bodies can be washed with water in a more common ritual called ghusl, but the risk of contamination from Covid means tayammum is now being performed more often.
In normal times, Muslims bury the dead as quickly as possible. But the number of deaths in the past few weeks has come close to overwhelming funeral services and cemeteries. Delays of up to 10 days have added a fresh layer of distress to grieving families.
“It’s not as bad now as it was a couple of weeks ago,” said Asad Jaman, head of assets and facilities at the mosque, who was overseeing the finishing touches to the emergency morgue. “Then, Gardens of Peace [a Muslim cemetery charity] was doing 20 funerals a day, and Eternal Gardens [another Muslim cemetery] was doing 12 to 14. Now the delay is down to a couple of days.”
Funds for the emergency morgue had been raised from the community, he said. The bulk of £80,000 given in donations in less than three weeks had been spent on the conversion of the railway arches, and the rest on hiring extra grave diggers, paying volunteers’ expenses, transportation and personal protective equipment (PPE).
The mosque – one of the biggest in Europe with a capacity of 7,000, serving the UK’s largest Muslim community – has its own mortuary, which can hold four bodies, and facilities for washing the dead. But the building has been closed since 19 March, a few days before the government ordered a general lockdown.
The holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, is usually the busiest time of year for the mosque, with nightly iftars and prayer sessions. Now it is deserted.
“Covid-19 has put fear in the hearts resulting in social isolation and lockdown. Businesses have closed down and people have lost their livelihood in their millions and are suffering from hunger and a loss of wealth. And of course, many have lost their lives. This is clearly a test from Allah,” said Muhammad Habibur Rahman, the mosque’s chairman, in a Ramadan message.
Under the railway arches, Jaman was hoping and praying that the death toll from Covid-19 had passed its peak. “But we’re ready if we are needed,” he said.
