Coronavirus: Italy struggles to bury its dead

Coffins of people who have died from coronavirus disease are seen in a crematorium in the town of Serravalle Scrivia, which like many places in northern Italy is struggling to cope with the number of deaths from the virus that is growing every day, in Alessandria.

Pallbearers pull the coffin of a deceased person for a funeral ceremony into the cemetery of Grassobbio, Lombardy, in the absence of quarantined relatives.

A worker takes away a coffin in the Crematorium Temple of Piacenza, Northern Italy, saturated with corpses awaiting cremation due to the coronavirus emergency.

Coffins are seen inside a church in Serina near Bergamo, one of Italy's cities worst-hit by coronavirus disease.

Workers place a coffin in the ground at a cemetery in Milan.

Coffins aligned in a tent at the Bergamo hospital, Lombardy .

Undertakers wearing a face mask carry a coffin out of a hearse at the Monumental cemetery of Bergamo, Lombardy, as burials of people who died of the new coronavirus are being conducted at the rythm of one every half hour.

Workers arrive a cemetery, as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues, in Milan.

An undertaker wearing a face mask and overalls unloads a coffin out of a hearse at the Monumental cemetery of Bergamo, Lombardy, as burials of people who died of the new coronavirus are being conducted at the rythm of one every half hour.

Coffins of people who have died from coronavirus disease are seen in the church of the Serravalle Scrivia cemetery, in Alessandria, Italy.

A priest (L) reads prayers from the book of funeral rites by the coffin of a deceased person in the cemetery of Grassobbio, Lombardy, as pallbearers stand by during a funeral ceremony in the absence of quarantined relatives.

Undertakers wearing a face mask and overalls unload a coffin out of a hearse at the Monumental cemetery of Bergamo, Lombardy.

Coffins of people who have died from coronavirus disease are seen in the church of the Serravalle Scrivia cemetery, in Alessandria.

A man stands by the coffin of his mother during a funeral service in the closed cemetery of Seriate, near Bergamo, Lombardy.

Workers dig a hole at a cemetery, as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues, in Milan.

Coffins aligned in a chapel in Bergamo, Lombardy prior to be transported for cremation.

Roberto Cusimano, owner of San Giuseppe funeral home, left, is flanked by an employee as they prepare documents for transportation of the coffin of Concetta, 73 years old, who died with Coronavirus, at the Multimedica hospital morgue, in Milan.

Cemetery workers and funeral agency workers in protective masks transport a coffin of a person who died from coronavirus disease, into a cemetery in Bergamo.

Workers dig a hole at a cemetery in Milan.REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo

Coffins are seen inside a church in Serina near Bergamo, one of the cities worst-hit by coronavirus disease.

Relatives walk behind a hearse carrying a coffin inside the Monumentale cemetery, in Bergamo, in Italy’s hardest-hit region of Lombardy.

A cemetery employee wearing a face mask closes the gates of the Monumental cemetery of Bergamo, Lombardy, as relatives of a deceased person wait outside, as burials of people who died of the new coronavirus are being conducted at the rythm of one every half hour.

Coffins of people who have died from coronavirus disease are seen in a crematorium in the town of Serravalle Scrivia, in Alessandria, Italy.

Coffins are seen inside a church in Serina near Bergamo, one of the cities worst-hit by coronavirus disease.