A rapid increase in the number of deaths due to COVID-19 is causing authorities in Santiago, Chile, to have mass graves dug. It has also led authorities to declare a mandatory lockdown in the capital city.
By Wednesday, 2,600 infections were registered in a 24-hour period, with almost the same number on Thursday. Chile, so far, has recorded 37,040 confirmed cases of infections and 368 deaths due to the coronavirus. Of these, 27,216 infections are from the suburban regions of Santiago.
Chile had been following a self-imposed quarantine of citizens aged 75 and above. The country was also following curfew where no one steps out between 10pm and 5am. Face masks are mandatory in public places and while being on public transportation. Violators will be fined up to $60.
“We realise that this is a historic moment and that we may need more graves because we see what's happened in other countries,” a cemetery director Rashid Saud was quoted as saying in an AFP report.
“We have to contrast it with other countries that have resorted to mass graves, with countries, which have had dead people on the streets and rotting corpses in trucks. That is what we want to avoid and hopefully, we will not have to use them,” he added.
There is a concern for lack of space in other cities in the country to bury the dead if and when the number of casualties goes up.
