Brazil: Sao Paulo To Use School Buses To Transport Corpses

The Sao Paulo Municipality announced that it will use 50 private cars and school buses to transport the bodies of people killed by COVID-19.

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These vehicles will be hired by the Tecnica Engenharia company, which will provide funeral services about 12 hours a day. At the end of the contract, the Municipality will sanitize the vehicles.

Due to the increase of burials by 30 percent, the authorities extended the burial hours from 7 am to 10 pm in the cemeteries of Vila Formosa, Vila Alpina, Sao Luiz, and Vila Nova Cachoeirinha. The current contingency plan also provides for night burials.

Due to the suspension of on-site classes in Sao Paulo, hundreds of school bus drivers who became unemployed applied to work in funeral services.

The General Union of School Transport of Sao Paulo (UGTESP) President Anderson Malafaia considers that the private company is exploiting the drivers because their wages are low compared to the risks and costs.

For a week now, Vila Formosa, which is Latin America's largest public cemetery, has been registering a notorious agglomeration of people waiting to receive the bodies of COVID-19 victims.

Faced with this circumstance, the Municipal Funeral Service informed that its officials are working in the cemeteries instructing families on safety protocols to avoid further contagions.