Milan on Thursday shut its main crematorium for the rest of the month to deal with the surge of bodies that have accumulated in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. The main city of Italy's epicentre of the global outbreak said it was experiencing a "constant and progressive increase of the deceased awaiting cremation". A statement from its city council said the current wait for bodies at the Crematorio di Lambrate was around 20 days. A wait any longer could cause "hygiene-sanitary problems," the city council said on its website. The thriving northern city of just under 1.4 million -- a global capital of fashion that serves as Italy's main financial hub -- has been under lockdown since February. Its Lombardy region recorded the first COVID-19 death in Europe on February 21. It has now recorded 7,960 of Italy's 13.915 officially registered coronavirus fatalities. "To help families in this difficult moment, starting Friday, it will be possible to bury loved ones at no cost," the city said in the statement. It did not disclose how many bodies were awaiting cremation. But it noted that the number of people who died over the course of the past month had nearly doubled to 2,155 from the 1,224 who passed away the previous March. "Our funeral and cemetery employees are working tirelessly and with a high degree of responsibility," Milan's civil services councillor Roberto Cocco said. zak/pvh