The morgue at Mater Dei Hospital was stretched to almost full capacity over Holy Week, when no church funerals are held for four days.

Sources said extraordinary measures had to be taken to accommodate the sudden increase in the number of corpses which had to be kept in the mortuary.

A spokeswoman for the Health Ministry confirmed when asked that the total number of bodies at Mater Dei mortuary as of Monday morning was 63.

With the contingency plan, the mortuary has the capacity to hold up to 96 bodies

No funerals are held every year between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday, and this time of the year always results in a spike in corpses at the Mater Dei mortuary.

A spokesman for the Curia told the Times of Malta that “according to the dispositions in the liturgical books of the Church, no Mass is held during the Easter Triduum, between Mass of the Lord’s supper on Thursday until Easter Sunday, when the Church celebrates the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Health Ministry spokeswoman said that this was a “yearly occurrence” and that the mortuary and Anatomic Pathology at Mater Dei had escalation plans in place to counteract it.

With the contingency plan in place, Mater Dei’s mortuary has the capacity to hold up to 96 bodies, she said, adding the increase over the past few days saw the need for the contingency plan to be set in motion.

Sources said undertakers were kept busy over the Easter weekend and providers of flower wreaths and bouquets had to work around the clock to keep up with the workload.