Μake us preferred on Google Six years after the Covid-19 pandemic transformed funeral and burial practices, families across Greece are facing an unexpected consequence: in many cases, the bodies of people who died from the virus have not fully decomposed.
The issue became apparent during the first exhumations in 2024, when authorities found that the natural decomposition process had not been completed in most of the cases examined. The use of durable, waterproof plastic coverings around bodies and coffins appears to have significantly slowed the process.
For thousands of families who were already unable to say goodbye to relatives in the usual way because of strict health protocols during the pandemic, the discovery has created another painful experience. Some relatives have described the prospect of partial exhumations as a “psychological ordeal.”
The problem has also put additional pressure on cemeteries, particularly in large cities where burial space is already limited.
Why decomposition has been delayed
Under cemetery regulations, three years is generally the minimum burial period before relatives are notified that an exhumation is due. Families can request an extension of up to five years.
However, an updated circular issued in 2024 acknowledges that the time required for a body to decompose cannot be determined precisely, as forensic science considers the composition of the soil in which a person is buried to be particularly important.
The guidance also notes that biological decomposition of soft tissue may not have been completed when the burial period expires. If a grave must be cleared, cemeteries are instructed to provide a designated area for the remaining remains to be reburied.
For Covid-19 deaths, the circular specifically recommends removing the waterproof body bag when a body has not fully decomposed and managing the remains in accordance with cemetery regulations. It also calls on municipal cemetery authorities to treat the remains and relatives with due respect, take measures to avoid unnecessary distress and avoid imposing costs beyond those absolutely necessary.
Municipalities face hundreds of affected graves
Some municipalities began dealing with the issue during the first exhumations in 2024 and 2025. In certain cases, the plastic covering was completely removed and the bodies were reburied so that decomposition could continue. In others, exhumations were postponed and relatives were exempted from fees.
The municipality of Kavala, in northern Greece, addressed the issue in a February 2026 decision. It said that approximately 150 Covid-19 burials in its cemeteries had been found to be completely undecomposed after five years because the bodies had been placed in plastic bags under measures adopted to prevent the spread of the virus.
The municipality said the bodies needed to be exhumed, the plastic coverings removed and the remains reburied for at least another year to allow decomposition to take place.
Volos experiments with reopening graves
In Volos, the municipal cemetery authority has begun trial interventions in graves of people who died from Covid-19.
According to Giannis Polymenidis, head of the city’s cemetery department, the cases examined so far have not reached complete skeletal decomposition.
About 600 people who died from Covid-19 were buried at the Koukou cemetery, while Polymenidis estimated that around another 100 such burials took place in the municipality’s peripheral cemeteries.
After the five-year period had elapsed, the cemetery service began trial interventions. Workers uncover the area where the protective bag is located, open it and add soil before covering the grave again. The aim is to facilitate the decomposition process.
Polymenidis told Greece’s public broadcaster ERT that the process could still require another two to three years after the intervention.
The municipality has also amended its regulations to allow free burial during the fourth and fifth years and reduced charges from the sixth year for these particular burials.
Thessaloniki seeks a solution without new exhumations
The issue has also affected cemeteries in western Thessaloniki.
According to Konstantinos Tsiapakidis, the new president of the Association of Municipalities of Western Thessaloniki, 800 of the 1,200 graves of people who died from Covid-19 at the Evosmos cemeteries were opened between 2025 and August 2026 by the previous administration.
The exhumations confirmed that decomposition had not been completed. Tsiapakidis said the plastic coverings were cut during an initial phase in 2025, but when additional graves were opened in 2026, the bodies had still not decomposed despite that intervention.
Tsiapakidis said he is now seeking a solution that would avoid reopening the graves. One option under consideration is the use of specially treated soil placed above the graves to create conditions that could help decomposition proceed.
“We will not open any graves,” he told tanea.gr. “We are considering using special soil above the graves, with the aim of creating the appropriate conditions for decomposition.”
The effectiveness of the method will be assessed in practice, with an estimated testing period of about six months.
Tsiapakidis said he has already canceled all scheduled appointments for partial exhumations. If the soil-based method succeeds, he said it could be applied to the remaining graves.
“As long as I am in charge, there has been no intervention whatsoever, because I respect the relatives and the tragically painful process they go through with exhumations, and that is why we are trying to find a solution through the soil,” he said.
