Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Dempsey & Forrest say families had it tough under level 3 and 4

James Forrest from Forrest and Dempsey. Photo / Bevan Conley

Being able to have 50 people at a funeral is a big relief for families wanting to farewell their loved ones, a Whanganui funeral director says.

Under Covid-19 alert level 2 funerals can have 50 guests inside, or 100 if held outside.

Organisers must record details of everyone who attends a funeral.

Dempsey and Forrest company director James Forrest said there was a lot of relief funeral attendances had been bumped up from 10 to 50.

"It's been tough times for families, gosh it's been hard."

He said under alert level 4 funerals were not allowed, whereas under alert level 3 families had to choose just 10 people to attend.

"It's been pretty tough deciding who the 10 people would be there for the farewell," Forrest said.

He said the 50 number at alert level 2 usually worked for most funerals as some people still felt unsafe in a gathering and chose to stay at home and watch a service online.

As of Tuesday Dempsey & Forrest had three funerals planned to go ahead this weekend, and some of those had been on hold to wait for this week's alert level drop, Forrest said.

Guests were expected to wear masks and sign in manually or with QR codes. Extra masks would be available for people who did not have one, Forrest said.

Forrest said last year they had one instance where a woman refused to wear a mask and had to be removed by police.

"Thankfully we haven't struck that at this point," he said

"If you want to come along and be part of the farewell you've got to comply".

Families were not able to take their deceased home under alert level 3 and Forrest said there were discussions ongoing with the national Funeral Directors Association as to whether that would be possible in level 2.

Forrest said he expected any catering offered to be similar to what is required of restaurants where people are served and seated.