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Sao Paulo Cemeteries Digging Up Graves for Coronavirus Space

Associated Press

   SAN PAULO - Brazil's biggest metropolis has an unorthodox plan to free
   up space at its graveyards during the coronavris pandemic: digging up
   the bones of people buried in the past and storing their bagged remains
   in large metal containers.

   Sao Paulo's municipal funeral service said in a statement Friday that
   the remains of people who died at least three years ago will be exhumed
   and put in numbered bags, then stored temporarily in 12 storage
   containers it has purchased. The containers will be delivered to
   several cemeteries within 15 days, the statement said.

   Sao Paulo is one of the COVID-19 hot spots in Latin America's
   hardest-hit nation, with 5,480 deaths as of Thursday in the city of 12
   million people. And some health experts are worried about a new surge
   now that a decline in intensive care bed occupancy to about 70 percent
   prompted Mayor Bruno Covas to authorize a partial reopening of business
   this week. The result has been crowded public transport, long lines at
   malls and widespread disregard for social distancing.

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