Brazil: São Paulo cemeteries struggle to deal with virus deaths

Residents of São Paulo continued burying loved ones as the pandemic spread across Brazil, on the day president Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday announced he tested positive for COVID-19, having once likened the illness to a little flu.

Benedito da Costa Santos, 64 years old, was buried on Tuesday at Vila Formosa cemetery, the largest cemetery in Latin America.

Santos went to the hospital a week ago with cough, headaches and fever. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 but refused to stay, thinking his symptoms were not so severe.

On Monday he changed his mind, went to the hospital again, but was released hours later. As soon as he arrived at home he had a heart attack and he was taken back to the hospital, but didn't survive.

With no family, he was buried by his friends, as Alvaro Cain.

Cain said Santos was a fruit street seller just like him and together have struggled a lot during the quarantine.

They have stopped working for a couple of weeks, but they can't afford not going back to the streets.

"The debts have increased, but we haven't stopped to cry, we kept going. This is what makes us Brazilians, we work hard every day, we are used to the difficulties, and so we keep going," Cain added.

According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has registered more than 1,6 million cases and 66,093 fatalities due to COVID-19.

The actual of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.