Design of mass burial sites for safe and dignified disposal of pandemic fatalities

Abstract

The huge number of fatalities due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has imposed an unprecedented pressure on existing burial facilities. Thus, mass burial is being used in different parts of the world to cope with this unusual situation. As a dead body might be contagious for at least hours, if not days, there is a need to manage/design/construct the mass burial considering the safe handling of coffins and other environmental, social, economical and ethical/dignity aspects. However, the guidelines of the World Health Organization do not thoroughly address the potential risk associated with groundwater pollution due to mass burial construction. Hence, the present study discusses the potential risk of groundwater pollution in mass burial sites and sheds light on the factors that control the survival/retention of bacteria and viruses in porous media. Furthermore, using the available knowledge on designing/monitoring of municipal/industrial waste disposal sites, a cost-effective and simple construction method of mass burial is proposed to mitigate its potential environmental impact.

Could Necroleachate Be the Cemetery’s Sewage? A Panorama from Brazilian Legislation

“…This leads to more mineral salts, increasing the electrical conductivity of affected waters [94]. Assessments concerning these parameters will guide possible groundwater necroleachate alteration or contamination evaluations, and the presence of previously mentioned microorganisms can comprise important necroleachate bioindicators [2,58,74,95,96].…”

A mathematical model for precise predicting microbial propagation based on solving variable‐order fractional diffusion equation

“…There are numerous reports of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected in untreated wastewater/sludge from wastewater treatment plants in various regions of the world, including developed countries such as France, Italy, the United States, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, and Australia that somehow acknowledge the shortcomings of the World Health Organization's guidelines on the effects of landfill on groundwater pollution [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. However, even with the skepticism of recent reports, whether the coronavirus can spread in and across the porous and aqueous mediums or not, studying the propagation patterns of microorganisms seems to be crucial to predict the propagation patterns and to understand the possible conditions, because the unusual increase in the number of deaths due to complicated pandemics such as Covid-19 will result in an increase in the possibility of the spread of carcinogens and other microorganisms in the leachate from burial in cemeteries and their infiltration into groundwater which can generate serious environmental problems [24].…”