Bodies are exhumed in Brazil to make way for more dead bodies as the country's Coronavirus death toll surpasses that of the UK making it the second highest in the world (photos)

Bodies are at the moment being exhumed in Brazil to make way for Coronavirus death victims as the country’s death toll reaches 41,828, surpassing that of the UK after reporting 909 deaths this weekend.

Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populated city, is now freeing up space at its city’s graveyards by digging up the bodies of people buried at least 3 years ago and storing their bagged remains in large metal containers.

According to the Sao Paolo government, in a statement released on Saturday, the dead bodies will be stored temporarily in 12 storage containers the city’s funeral service has purchased.

Brazil, now the hardest-hit Latin American nation with more than 828,000 confirmed virus cases, also has the second-highest death toll from COVID-19 behind the United States.

Speaking on the issue, Dr Michael Ryan, the World Health Organisation’s emergencies chief said: ‘Overall the health system is still coping in Brazil, although, having said that, with the sustained number of severe cases that remains to be seen, clearly the health system across the country needs significant support in order to sustain its effort in this regard. But the data we have at the moment supports a system under pressure, but a system still coping with the number of severe cases”