Mexico sees rising numbers of virus dead

Workers in cemeteries and crematoriums in Mexico are under pressure as the country's coronavirus death toll reached more than 13,000 on Saturday, after a surge in fatalities in one week.

While Mexico has begun easing some restrictions, crematoriums and cemeteries in Iztapalapa, an area of nearly two million inhabitants in Mexico City, are still working around the clock while declared a highly contagious zone.

With 816 COVID-19 deaths confirmed on Thursday and 1,092 on Wednesday, gravediggers at the San Lorenzo Tezonco municipal cemetery on Mexico City's east side said they have buried more bodies in recent weeks than they have ever seen before.

Relatives of the deceased waited outside the San Nicolas Tolentino Cemetery where only five relatives were allowed inside to witness the burial.

Juana Salazar, daughter of recently deceased Francisca Gonzalez, explained how she nearly missed her mother's funeral due to the strict measures implemented by the cemetery.

For Juana it all happened too fast, after taking her mother reluctantly to hospital earlier in the week with water in her lungs.

The diagnosis was COVID-19. Her mother died on Friday.

Meanwhile, Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez said the public should get a medical evaluation if they had symptoms.

Mexico has reported 110,026 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.