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Brazil has now recorded the second-highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world, surpassing the the UK and now falling behind only the US.
The UK is now the third worst-affected nation globally, according to data published by each nation’s health officials and collated by John Hopkins University.
The hardest-hit Latin American nation reported 909 deaths on Friday, with more than 828,000 confirmed cases.
The news comes as India reported another record daily spike in infections to pass the grim milestone of 300,000 cases.
Brazil’s biggest city, Sao Paulo, is to free up space at its graveyards by digging up the bones of people buried in the past and storing their bagged remains in large metal containers.
The remains of people who died at least three years ago will be exhumed and put in numbered bags, then stored temporarily in 12 storage containers the city’s funeral service has purchased. The containers will be delivered to several cemeteries within 15 days, a statement said.
Sao Paulo is one of the world’s biggest Covid-19 hot spots, with 5,480 deaths as of Thursday in a city of 12 million people.
Health experts are worried about a new surge after a decline in intensive care bed occupancy to about 70% prompted mayor Bruno Covas to authorise a partial reopening of business this week.
The peak of infection is predicted to hit Brazil in August, having spread from major cities into the nation’s interior.
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 in Brazil 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.”
In India, the Health Ministry reported 11,458 new cases on Saturday and 386 deaths, driving the toll of fatalities up to 8,884.
India’s total caseload reached 308,993, the four-highest in the world, including more than 150,000 recoveries.
The government of prime minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown in late March. India’s caseload jumped by about 100,000 cases in a week, which coincided with the reopening of shopping centres, houses of worship and restaurants.
In the capital New Delhi, most public hospitals are full, and crematoriums and graveyards are struggling to manage a new influx of bodies. Delhi’s government has projected that cases in the capital area alone could expand to more than half a million by late July, and is considering taking over luxury hotels and stadiums to convert into field hospitals.
Meanwhile, Beijing authorities have closed the city’s largest wholesale food market after the discovery of seven cases in the previous two days.
The Xinfadi market, which has 4,000 tenants, will be disinfected after workers tested positive and the virus was found in the environment, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
China’s National Health Commission said six new cases were confirmed in Beijing on Friday, and another case was reported on Thursday. They are the first locally transmitted cases in the Chinese capital in more than 50 days.
Attention focused on the market after the discovery of the first three cases. Two of the infected people had been to the market, and the third worked with one of them at a meat research institute, according to Chinese media reports.
City officials said all the workers were being tested for coronavirus. They also ordered the testing of food and environmental samples from all the city’s wholesale food markets.