The UK’s 9,000 town and parish councils are being told to set aside 30 funeral plots each for virus victims – and earmark a site for a mass grave
The Sunday Mirror understands the requests are part of Public Health England’s worst-case scenario planning if the death toll tops 250,000, although PHE did not comment.
The councils have a statutory duty to arrangepublic health burials or cremations – known as pauper’s funerals.
They are usually only for people who died alone, in poverty, or whose bodies have gone unclaimed.
Burials may take place in an unmarked grave that may be shared with other people.
There are around 3,800 pauper’s funerals a year, costing councils £5.4million – £1,400 each.
Meanwhile, the Prison Service said there are no plans to release lags early.
There have been two confirmed Covid-19 cases in prisons, one at HMP Manchester and the other at HMP High Down in Banstead, Surrey.
Now pubs, gyms, leisure centres and cinemas have been shut, the PM hopes he will not have to call a full lockdown
– but is keeping the option open.
The Chinese city of Wuhan, home to 11 million and where the outbreak started, was locked down in January.
The drastic move helped stop the spread and officials last week said there were no new infections in Wuhan or surrounding Hubei province for the first time since the outbreak began.
The death toll in Italy has soared to above the reported total for Italy with more deaths expected in the coming days and weeks.
The crisis has got so bad Europe is now considered the epicentre for the deadly bug with Spain, France and the UK all grappling with how to handle an unprecedented situation.
