10 Apr 2021 / 09:01 H.
(Adds Bolivia border closure)
By Eduardo Simões and Amanda Perobelli
SAO PAULO, April 1 (Reuters) - Brazil s biggest city on Thursday sped up efforts to empty old graves, making room for a soaring number of COVID-19 deaths as Sao Paulo city hall registered record daily burials this week.
Gravediggers in the Vila Nova Cachoeirinha cemetery in the city s northern reaches worked in white hazmat suits to open the tombs of people buried years ago, bagging decomposed remains for removal to another location.
Relocating remains is standard in cemetery operations, said the municipal secretary responsible for funeral services, in a statement. But it has taken on new urgency as Brazil suffers its worse coronavirus wave since the pandemic began over a year ago.
10 Apr 2021 / 09:01 H.
(Adds Bolsonaro vaccine comment in paragraph 10)
By Eduardo Simões and Amanda Perobelli
SAO PAULO, April 1 (Reuters) - Brazil s biggest city on Thursday sped up efforts to empty old graves, making room for a soaring number of COVID-19 deaths as Sao Paulo city hall registered record daily burials this week.
Gravediggers in the Vila Nova Cachoeirinha cemetery in the city s northern reaches worked in white hazmat suits to open the tombs of people buried years ago, bagging decomposed remains for removal to another location.
Relocating remains is standard in cemetery operations, said the municipal secretary responsible for funeral services, in a statement. But it has taken on new urgency as Brazil suffers its worse coronavirus wave since the pandemic began over a year ago.
Neighbouring Chile has closed its borders to all foreigners on Thursday, while tightening a severe lockdown, as it surpassed one million cases recorded since the start of the pandemic.
Jose Miguel Bernucci, secretary of Chile’s National Medical Association, said: “What is happening in Brazil is a global menace.
Mr Bolsonaro is consequently under increasing pressure domestically, with the heads of the army, navy and air force all having quit in recent days.
Sao Paulo exhumes old graves to make space for surging COVID-19 burials reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
UPDATE 2-Sao Paulo exhumes old graves to make space for surging COVID-19 burials reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.