Death did not frighten the grave digger Muhammad Shamim until now ... but since the new Corona virus tightened its grip on New Delhi, it has been shaking every time he sees the coffin being drawn into the cemetery where he works.

"I have been burying the dead for two decades," Shamim explains. But until now I have never hidden my life. ”

The Indian capital, New Delhi, has become one of Covid-19 disease hotspots in the country with press reports based on cemetery records indicating 450 deaths, about three times the officially announced toll.

Shamim confirms that he personally dug graves of 115 bodies in the place in the cemetery to bury the victims of the emerging Corona virus, 200 meters from the others.

Shamim represents the third generation of his family who works in digging graves, but his family has started complaining about this work in the new Muslim cemetery in the Indian capital.

Shamim intends to transfer his four daughters to his parents' home to reduce their risk of contracting the disease if the infection is transmitted to him.

"They are afraid," said the 38-year-old. Sometimes I lie to them and tell them that I do not touch the bodies. ”

Shamim receives a call an hour before the burial vehicle arrives. Then the tension begins.

He prepares relatives of the dead and asks them to wear protective clothing and put gloves and masks during the burial ceremonies before the family recites the prayers and the corpse wrapped in a shroud or in plastic is covered with dirt.

After that, the family of the dead person takes off the protective uniforms and throws them into a pit before a mechanical excavator can fill them.

The bodies of some of the victims of the emerging coronavirus come without relatives to help with the burial.

In these cases, Shamim says, he has repeatedly defied orders to stay away from corpses.

"People refuse to come to help with the burial," he explains. What can I do? I have to go in, "describing" sad "scenes like the arrival of a wife and young child only to bury a man.

At a funeral that happened a short time ago, Shamim was forced to find gloves for a small group that came with only plastic bags to protect herself.

He found a couple of gloves and gave one glove to each of the four people who helped to hide the burial body.

"I realize that it is never easy to bury the dead, but some families never respect the procedures," Shamim asserts. Sometimes he was forced to ask the hospital staff accompanying the body for gloves. ”

This grave digger fears that the infection will cause him to perform the examination twice, and he has paid out of his own money for the second test, despite his meager wages.

As the number of victims in New Delhi rises and the demand for his services increases, Shamim says he worries about any change in his breathing or if he suffers from an intestinal disorder.

"I have always felt calm next to the dead, but now I feel difficulty sleeping at night," he says.

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