Scavengers in India risk health to sift coronavirus debris


  • World
  • Friday, 24 Jul 2020

Rubbish bags stand at a landfill site, near a residential area, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in New Delhi, India, July 9, 2020. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi SEARCH "COVID-19 MEDICAL WASTE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Mansoor Khan and his wife Latifa Bibi have been collecting scraps of plastic and other items at an enormous landfill site on the outskirts of New Delhi for nearly 20 years.

Their $5 daily earnings each keep their three children at school, in search of a better future than their parents' lives amid the stench of rotting garbage. But over the past few months, increasing amounts of biomedical waste have been arriving at the dump - a result, experts say, of the novel coronavirus pandemic and a huge risk for those who work there.

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