The head of the government department tasked with issuing burial permits in Yemen’s interim capital of Aden has revealed statistics showing that 623 people have died in the port city since the beginning of May.

In his daily briefing, Maj. Gen. Sanad Jamil, head of Aden’s Civil Status Department, said that 70 burial permits were issued on May 13 alone. Five of those permits were requested by medical centers. The remaining 65 burial requests came from police departments that had collected dead bodies throughout Aden. 

Prior to May 1, the number of burial permits issued per day in the city was between 9 and 12, Jamil told Almasdar Online in a statement. Since then, the daily average has approached 50.

The exact causes of death in the vast majority of cases over the past two weeks are not known, but they coincide with the outbreak of coronavirus and other diseases including cholera and dengue fever that have spread in Aden devastating floods hit the port city. 

As of May 14, Yemen’s National Emergency Committee for Coronavirus has reported 48 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Aden, including five deaths. 

Aden-based Deputy Education Minister Dr. Saleh Al-Soufi and an official in Aden’s local authority, Moqbel Al-Qutaibi, are among the 623 people who have died in the interim capital since May 1.

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Editing by Casey Coombs