Sao Paulo gravediggers overwhelmed by Brazil's Covid-19 surge

Workers in the cemetery of Vila Nova Cachoeirinha in Sao Paulo, Brazil, have had to suspend new burials amid a surge in Covid-19 deaths in the country.

Workers in the cemetery of Vila Nova Cachoeirinha in Sao Paulo, Brazil, have had to suspend new burials amid a surge in Covid-19 deaths in the country.

Gravediggers enter tombs to remove the bodies of those buried some time ago, to clear space for the new dead.

The footage was filmed on 1 April.

While relocating the dead is common practice in cemeteries around the world, the task has been made more urgent by the increase in new burials, which last week hit a new record for the city.

The World Health Organization has warned that several Brazilian states are in “critical condition”, amid an increasingly out-of-control pandemic.