Coronavirus

São Paulo to dig 13,000 new graves for Covid-19 deaths

graves são Paulo
São Paulo’s Vila Formosa cemetery, Latin America’s largest. Photo: BW Press/Shutterstock

São Paulo Mayor Bruno Covas announced this morning his government will dig at least 13,000 new graves in the city’s cemeteries. He also said the number of daily burials is set to rise from 240 to 400. “The worst is yet to come,” he said.

Last week, Mr. Covas had already declared the creation of a “funeral committee” to avoid mass-grave burials such as the ones seen in New York and Guayaquil, Ecuador. “We will do everything possible to avoid seeing in São Paulo the unfortunate scenes we have seen around the world,” Mr. Covas said at the time, adding that his government wants “to be prepared so that people can have a dignified and organized burial.”