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News > Chile

Chile Digs Thousands of Graves to Face COVID-19 Deaths Surge

  • Aerial views of gravediggers digging tombs amid the coronavirus pandemic, Santiago, Chile, May 14, 2020.

    Aerial views of gravediggers digging tombs amid the coronavirus pandemic, Santiago, Chile, May 14, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @Hispantv

Published 15 May 2020
Opinion

The alarms went off when Chile recorded 2,660 infections in a single day on Wednesday.

Santiago city's general cemetery is digging thousands of graves to deal with the possible increase in deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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The alarms went off when Chile recorded 2,660 infections in a single day on Wednesday. "So far, about 1,000 graves have been set up," the general cemetery director Rashid Saud said.

Although the cemetery clears unclaimed graves every year, it is the first time this work has been done at such an early date. "The gravediggers have cleared some 1,700 graves in yards 134 and 136," the Municipal Cemetery Workers Federation president Luis Yevenes said.

The decision to clear graves in Santiago's cemetery is to avoid having people die on the streets or in trucks, a scenario experienced in other Latin American countries..​​​​​​

The alarms went off when Chile recorded 2,660 infections in a single day on Wednesday, similar to the figure reached on Thursday. 

"So far about 1,000 graves have been set up," cemetery's director, Rashid Saud, said Thursday.

Although the cemetery clears unclaimed graves every year, it is the first time this work has been done at such an early date.

"The gravediggers have cleared some 1,700 graves located in yards 134, 134 and 136," Municipal Cemetery Workers Federation's president, Luis Yevenes told the local press. ​​​​​​​

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