Greek municipalities grapple with repeated Covid burial openings amid government inaction
Local officials in western Thessaloniki are forced to repeatedly open Covid-19 graves because the Interior Ministry has issued only vague orders and no clear national plan.
Municipal leaders in the western part of Thessaloniki convened to discuss an escalating burial crisis stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. The lack of a unified national policy has left the Interior Ministry issuing only broad instructions, without detailed procedures or resources, forcing local authorities to manage the situation on their own. At the Evosmos cemetery, which falls under the Association of Municipalities of Western Thessaloniki, records show 1,200 Covid-19 deaths among a total of 9,500 graves as of 2025, and more than 800 nylon burial bags have been torn to facilitate decomposition, yet the remains have not broken down.
Families of the deceased are repeatedly called to witness partial exhumations, a practice they describe as distressing and disrespectful. Kostas Tsapiakidis, the association’s president, plans to cancel scheduled partial exhumations and is consulting the State Chemistry Lab, geologists and forensic experts about enzyme-based soil treatments that could accelerate decomposition without further disturbance. The episode highlights the broader failure of central authorities to provide a coordinated, scientifically grounded response to the pandemic’s burial aftermath.
