Financial aid per case, at VND17 million ($739), would be deducted from the city’s coffers, said Nguyen Toan Thang, director of the municipal Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The amount is expected to cover transportation, cremation, and delivery of the ashes to the relatives of the deceased, he said, adding city authorities would conduct funeral services in the safest and most solemn way.

The municipal Department of Health will receive and transfer the aid to hospitals reporting Covid fatalities. Families of those who die at home can access the aid by delivering a death certificate of the deceased to local authorities.

Currently, all deseased Covid victims will be cremated at Binh Hung Hoa Cremation Center in Binh Tan District.

For around two months, the city has been the epicenter of the ongoing Covid-19 wave, with nearly 120,000 infections recorded since late April. City authorities said 2,509 Covid fatalities have been recorded in the city during the ongoing outbreak as of Saturday, out of the nation's nearly 3,215 deaths.