A TEMPORARY mortuary at Birmingham Airport remains on standby for the winter months to provide extra capacity for victims of coronavirus or seasonal flu in the West Midlands.

The facility was opened in April and will continue to provide additional temporary mortuary capacity for the region through to the end of March 2021 - West Midlands Police confirmed today.

A spokesman for the force said: "It is important that we continue to give the utmost dignity and respect at all times to those who die as a result of this illness."

Members of the force's faith forum were this week invited to visit the purpose-built facility to see how it continues to be prepared to receive victims of Covid and Deacon Stephen Saum, of the Roman Catholic Church in Dorridge, described it as "world-class" while the trustee of Sikh Assembly and director of Global Operations at Sikh Relief, Gurmukh Atwel, tweeted that the site was “equipped for Sikh mortality with dignity & religious consideration".

The facility is a collaboration between the eight local authorities and three coroners which make up the West Midlands and Warwickshire region and operates with the support of Birmingham Airport, West Midlands Police and Warwickshire Police.