NEW DELHI: In view of the recent increase in the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the national capital, the Muslim graveyard at central Delhi's ITO has readied 5-6 acres of extra space for burials of casualties caused by the virus.
On an average, two-three burials of the virus' victims have been taking place daily but the number has increased in the last few days, said Haji Mian Faiyazuddin, secretary of Qabristan Ahle Islam near Delhi Gate.
"In the last 2-3 days, the number of COVID-19 victims brought to the graveyard for burial has gone up from earlier 2-3 per day to 4-5 now," he said.
According to official data, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 was 32 on October 5, on October 4 it was 38 deaths, on October 3 - 34 deaths, October 2 - 37 deaths, October 1 - 40 deaths , September 30 - 41 deaths, September 29 - 48 deaths, September 28 - 37 deaths, September 27 - 42 deaths.
The COVID-19 burials at the ITO graveyard started in April and so far, funerals of over 700 such bodies were performed there.
The graveyard is spread over an area of about 40-50 acres, said Faiyazuddin.
"We have readied 5-6 acres of extra burial space by clearing bushes on a part of the graveyard that can accommodate another 100 or so graves for COVID-19 protocol burials," he said.
He warned that after one or two months, the graveyard may have problems in finding space for burials of more COVID-19 casualties due to paucity of land.
"We have sought help from Delhi government as well as the Central government to solve the problem of land but have yet to receive their reply," he said.
According to Delhi government data, 1,947 new cases on Monday increased the cumulative count of COVID-19 cases to 2,92,560, while 32 fatalities took the number of deaths to 5,542.
Forty-eight deaths were reported on September 29, the highest in a day since July 16 when the city had reported 58 deaths.
The average death rate for the last 10 days stands at 1.41 per cent.
Faiyazuddin said a problem faced by the graveyard management is that it also has to provide space for burial of COVID-19 patients from neighbouring cities like Noida, Gaziabad and Meerut who die while undergoing treatment in Delhi.
"Due to limited space available, it is very difficult to provide graves for burial of those from other cities but it has to be done because no one can be denied decent last rites," he said.