Due to the rampant increase in Covid-19 cases, some 2,000 graves are being dug in the General Cemetery in this capital, the largest in Chile, to face an increase in deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Radio Bio Bio reported that for several weeks, some 2,000 individual graves have been dug in three yards of the municipal cemetery, in the Recoleta neighborhood, according to Director Rashid Saud.

The official noted that 'we may possible need more graves, because we see what is happening in nearby countries', and pointed out that on our own initiative, we started the task of providing more graves.

Until late April, Chile had reported 400-500 new Covid-19 cases a day, but in early May, that number started to increase, being over 1,000 cases for several days and reaching nearly 2,600 cases on Thursday.

Saud added that 'it has to be compared to other countries that have resorted to common graves, to countries where dead people have been on the streets, with corpses rotting on trucks, and that is what we want to prevent and we wish we did not have to use them'.