The death toll from Covid-19 in the US state of Oregon is climbing so rapidly in some counties that the state has organised delivery of one refrigerated truck to hold the bodies and is sending a second one, the state emergency management department said.

So far, Tillamook County, on Oregon’s northwest coast, and Josephine County, in the southwest, requested the trucks, said Bobbi Doan, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Office of Emergency Management.

The requests come as the coronavirus Delta variant tears through Oregon’s unvaccinated population.

The Tillamook County Board of Commissioners said on Friday the spread of Covid-19 “has reached a critical phase”.

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