Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Soliman Wahdan has submitted a proposal to the cabinet for allocating separate burial plots in the desert for coronavirus (COVID-19) victims.

Wahdan said the matter preserves the dignity and sanctity of the dead.

Families looking to bury their relatives who died of the coronavirus have encountered problems in conducting the burials in the Port Said, Ismailia, and Daqahleya governorates. Local security forces have had, on several occasions, to intervene in breaking up gatherings and bury the dead.

The involvement of security forces was deemed necessary to avoid problems on the spread of the epidemic and any dangers that could occur in graveyards, he added.

Wahdan said the proposal includes establishing graves as a proactive step before the potential increase in the number of deaths.