French Muslims pay heavy price in COVID pandemic

Mamadou Diagouraga, who lost his 71-year-old father Boubou Diagouraga in March 2020 after being infected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), stands next to his grave during an interview with Reuters, in the Muslim section of the cemetery in Valenton, near Paris, France, May 6, 2021. Picture taken May 6, 2021. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

VALENTON, France (Reuters) - Every week, Mamadou Diagouraga comes to the Muslim section of a cemetery near Paris to stand vigil at the grave of his father, one of the many French Muslims to have died from COVID-19.

Diagouraga looks up from his father's plot at the freshly-dug graves alongside. "My father was the first one in this row, and in a year, it's filled up," he said. "It's unbelievable."