At Brazil's biggest cemetery, grave diggers take own measure of coronavirus toll

A gravedigger opens new graves with an excavator as the number of dead people rose after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Vila Formosa cemetery, Brazil's biggest cemetery, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 2, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - As Oswaldo dos Santos watched several men in protective suits dig a hasty grave for his 36-year-old son, his grief was mixed with fear: What if he had the coronavirus? What if they all did?

Dos Santos lived with his son until Sunday, when he was suddenly hospitalized with severe respiratory problems. Like so many now filling the graves in Brazil's biggest cemetery, the son died before getting the results of a coronavirus test.