By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

On Saturday, Brazil’s Ministry of Health saw the total COVID-19 case count and deaths rise to 850,514 and 42,720, respectively. Brazil’s coronavirus mortality rate is 5 per cent, according to the health ministry.

Public domain image/Deyvid Aleksandr Raffo Setti

Brazil is second in the world in each category following only the US.

In addition, health officials reported that 379,245 people have recovered.

The situation in Brazil is bad and there is growing anger at the conduct of president Jair Bolsonaro over the pandemic who once downplayed the threat of the virus, saying on that death was “everyone’s destiny” and calling the pandemic a “fantasy”.

“This is the worst public health crisis we’ve faced – and it has come at a time when we have the worst government in the world,” said Daniel Dourado, a public health expert and lawyer from the University of São Paulo who believes thousands of lives could have been saved by a swifter and less erratic response. “The country is adrift.”

In Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, officials have an unorthodox plan to free up space at its graveyards during the coronavris pandemic.

Sao Paulo’s municipal funeral service said in a statement Friday that 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 it has purchased. The containers will be delivered to several cemeteries within 15 days, the statement said.