Funerals

“Visits are suspended until further notice,” reads a sign on the gate to a Bolivian cemetery, the latest measure in the country’s battle to contain coronavirus. It is a move that will cause further pain for a people used to wakes attended by large contingents of mourners that can stretch to several nights. Instead, they will now be asked to conduct rapid farewell ceremonies and burials with limited numbers of people to comply with a total and mandatory quarantine ordered on Sunday by the country’s interim president, Jeanine Anez. The Municipality of La Paz has limited burial hours and ceremonies are carried out without mass, a significant change in the majority Catholic South American nation. Bolivia has 28 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, according to the World Health Organization.