TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — New Taipei City's official crematorium saw the number of bodies it cremated during the first half of June almost double compared with the same period last year — though no link has been found with the current COVID-19 surge, reports said Friday (June 18).

Since mid-May, Taiwan has dealt with a big uptick in local coronavirus infections, with New Taipei reporting the highest number of new cases. City government figures show the crematorium in Sanxia District cremated 1,033 bodies during the period June 1-15, or 436 more than the 597 reported for the same period in 2020.

New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) said that while the increase coincided with the COVID surge, there was no direct evidence the two were related. He added more research would be needed to find out the cause.