Coronavirus: Temporary mortuary near Woodhall Spa has opened

Lincolnshire Resilience Forum confirmed the measures had been taken in the last 24 hours.

A statement from the LRF said the county was seeing a significantly higher number of deaths than usual, and there was less capacity at crematoriums over the next fortnight.

Sara Barry, chair of the mortality planning cell, part of Lincolnshire Resilience Forum, said: “The Woodhall Mortuary is a purpose-built facility that has been on standby for several months, and is now being used.

“We have been able to put processes in place to ensure the same levels of care, dignity and respect for loved ones, who may need to be located there before their family can pay their final respects.

“Please rest assured that your loved one is looked after with the care that they deserve at all times.”

Bishop of Grantham, Rt Revd Dr Nicholas Chamberlain, visited the facility.

He said: “This is a facility prepared with huge respect and huge understanding of the dignity of those who have died.

“I have met some of the staff and I came away obviously sobered by what I saw but actually filled with a sense of how well Lincolnshire has done this to care for the people of our county.

He thanked those involved and said he was “mindful of all who are affected”.

The mortuary at RAF Woodhall Spa was part of preparations by the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum for worst case scenarios, in case of a massive rise in numbers of coronavirus fatalities.

The hope was to enable those who died to be “treated with dignity and respect.”

It can be used to store up to 500 bodies of people who died with COVID-19.

On Monday, five more deaths were confirmed by government, with three in Lincolnshire’s hospitals.

There have been a total of 879 residents in Lincolnshire to have died within 28 days of contracting coronavirus, with 454 of those at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust facilities, 19 under the care of Lincolnshire Community Health Service and one patient at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust.