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Virus Surge in Brazil Brings Coffin Shortage, Morgue Chaos

Associated Press

   RIO DE JANEIRO - In Brazil's bustling Amazon city of Manaus, so many
   people have died within days in the coronavirus pandemic that coffins
   had to be stacked on top of each other in long, hastily dug trenches in
   a city cemetery. Some despairing relatives reluctantly chose cremation
   for loved ones to avoid burying them in those common graves.

   Now, with Brazil emerging as Latin America's coronavirus epicenter with
   more than 6,000 deaths, even the coffins are running out in Manaus. The
   national funeral home association has pleaded for an urgent airlift of
   coffins from Sao Paulo, 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) away, because
   Manaus has no paved roads connecting it to the rest of the country.

   The city of about 2 million people carved from the jungle has been
   overwhelmed by death in part because it's the main site where those
   from remote Amazon communities can get medical services, according to
   Lourival Panhozzi, president of the Brazilian Association of Funeral
   Service Providers.

   As of April 30, Brazil's Health Ministry said that there were over
   5,200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Amazonas state and 425 deaths,
   although there are concerns that inadequate testing for the virus has
   meant that the numbers may be much higher.

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