Brazil becoming a coronavirus hot spot

About 300 people suspected of being infected with COVID 19 are treated every day at the hospital Moacyr Rodrigues do Carmo in Duque de Caxias, a populous city in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro.

The city has the second highest number of coronavirus cases in Rio de Janeiro state, 319 cases by Monday.

According to Caxias's City Hall, last Friday the hospital registered double the number of COVID 19 deaths than the average.

The municipality released video and photos taken on Saturday, showing bodies in plastic bags near the mortuary cooler in the morgue of the hospital.

According to the authorities, there was a delay in removing the bodies, but the company responsible for transporting them denied this was the case.

The number of victims and confirmed cases in Rio de Janeiro keeps growing, and the state has the second highest number of cases in Brazil.

By Monday it had almost 8 thousand cases and at least 677 victims, the Health Ministry said.

The burials of victims of the virus, about 65 per day, are attended by a few relatives, and there is not any ceremony allowed.

Those who look for medical attention are sometimes sent back home because of the lack of beds and lack of tests.

Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that it is just a "little flu” and that there is no need for the sharp restrictions that have slowed the infection’s spread in Europe and the U.S.

Brazil has officially reported about 4,500 deaths and almost 67,000 confirmed infections.

But the true numbers there, as in many other countries, are believed to be vastly higher given the lack of testing and the many people without severe symptoms who haven’t sought hospital care.

Some scientists said over 1 million in Brazil are probably infected.

The country is heading into winter, which can worsen respiratory illnesses.