Ecuadorean prisoners to manufacture coffins as coronavirus creates shortage

QUITO (Reuters) - Hundreds of prisoners in Ecuador will begin making coffins to help cover a shortage emerging in Guayaquil, the country's largest city and the epicenter of one of the worst outbreaks of the new coronavirus in Latin America.

Prisoners in Ambato, a city just south of the capital Quito, will use wood seized by environmental authorities as part of anti-deforestation efforts to make the coffins, which they plan to start delivering next week to southern Guayas province, home to 68% of total cases of the virus and home to Guayaquil.