Fresh guidance has been published on attending a funeral at Aberdeen Crematorium.
Aberdeen City Council has released the guidance to ensure mourners are aware of the changes to the guidelines as a result of the growing spread of Omicron.
Earlier this week, reports emerged on social media of some upsetting scenes at Aberdeen Crematorium with people unable to get into a service.
Now the city council has published the current rules around attending a service, and details of the capacity for each chapel which has been vastly reduced due to social distancing requirements.
Capacity at nearly one third
There are two chapels at Aberdeen Crematorium; East Chapel and West Chapel.
East Chapel, the smaller of the two, would usually seat 96 people, but under new rules they will only allow 42 inside.
Capacity has been reduced to nearly one third in the West Chapel which would usually hold 270 people and is now only holding 98.
No standing is currently allowed in either. Though the Scottish Government has advised that people maintain two metres apart, this advice is not currently a legal requirement.
‘We appreciate people may be upset’
Despite claims funeral guests were not informed of the change before arriving at the crematorium earlier this week, the council said funeral directors were asked to pass on the information.
Services will once again have to be live-streamed as they were earlier in the pandemic.
A council spokeswoman said: “Funeral directors have been informed of the change, and have been asked to let affected families know. Families can live-stream services and our staff will do what they can to assist with this.
The council explained that the prevalence of the Omicron variant was one of the reasons behind the fresh rules.
Its spokeswoman added: “We appreciate people may be upset at the change and we would ask for understanding at this time for these extra measures due to the Omicron variant of Covid-19.”
Inverness Crematorium also limited
A spokesman from Highland Council has confirmed that the number of people allowed to attend services in Inverness Crematorium is also limited and has been throughout the pandemic.
He said: “When there was physical distancing legal requirements our large chapel was reduced to 50 people.
“When the legal requirement for physical distancing was removed on August 9 we allowed up to 80 people seated in the Chapel, this is two thirds capacity.
“We do not allow any standing in the building but there are outdoor speakers available if attendees require to stand outside.”
Buckie Crematorium, in Moray, said they have not been advised to limit numbers at their services.
