A specialist team has been established between the capital’s emergency services to deal with coronavirus deaths outside hospitals.
The team, made up of officers, firefighters and health service staff, will go to the location to confirm the deceased’s identity and establish there are no suspicious circumstances.
They will help families to make arrangements for a funeral director and prepare the deceased for collection to a funeral parlour or mortuary.
The aim of the Pandemic Multiagency Response Teams (PMART) is to have a safe response to coronavirus deaths in care homes or hospices, while also reducing the number of calls to the ambulance service.
Superintendent Wayne Matthews, of the Met, said the government had been clear to expect a high number of deaths as a result of coronavirus.
“We are living in unprecedented times and are therefore having to take extraordinary measures to support our colleagues in the National Health Service and London Ambulance Service,” he said.
Eleanor Kelly, Southwark Council’s CEO and deputy chair of the coordination group behind the initiative, said the teams would be able to help families in these “most distressing times.”
“We need Londoners to continue to play their part by staying at home, helping us to protect frontline services and save lives,” she said.
Families of the deceased will be asked not to attend a registry office to notify the death of their loved one.
Instead PMART will deal with it and register offices will contact families by phone.