Image: Matti Myller / Yle

Health authorities have begun construction of temporary morgues at two hospitals in Helsinki. The facilities will be set up at hospitals in Laakso and Malmi, and will accommodate 90 and 45 bodies respectively.

Laura Pikkarainen, medical chief of staff at Laakso hospital confirmed the arrangements to Yle, noting that they represent precautions in the event that fatalities are higher than anticipated because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

She also noted that waiting times for burials have lengthened and that it would therefore take longer than usual to intern bodies.

"The morgue space we have is ordinarily quite full and although fortunately there hasn't been a large number of coronavirus deaths, we think this is necessary," Pikkarainen said.

The containers at both hospitals are still empty and Pikkarainen said that she could not say how many fatalities would be needed for them to be taken into use. "That depends on quite many things."

However she noted that based on current estimates, the full capacity of the cold storage units would not be required.

About three years ago the hospital had a similar structure put in place on the grounds. Pikkarainen said that at the time they were brought in during the Christmas holidays.

"We also had a situation then where funerals took a long time and our in-house morgue space was full," she explained.

Tabloid daily Ilta-Sanomat first reported that refrigerated units were being set up on the Laakso hospital grounds.