In order to prevent Coronavirus burials taking place close to their communities, hundreds of protesters in Honduras blocked the highway to hinder passage.
About 300 locals from around 20 communities used boulders, burning tyres and tree branches to block the highway outside the capital city, Tegucigalpa.
The Riot Police Squad eventually stepped in to the scene to disband the protesters and unbar the Tegucigalpa-Olancho highway.
“They came to bury a corpse on Sunday, they came with all the security measures but if the relatives come to buy from a grocery store they will infect us,” an activist in the local community escalated to Channel 3 television.
Roberto Cosenza, the Honduras Deputy Health Minister said such incidents were becoming increasingly common.
In several regions of Honduras, local residents have combined forces “to prevent funeral corteges passing through communities and the relative has to try to find a place to bury the body,” Cosenza added.
In some cases, relatives were refusing to accept the corpses of virus victims from morgues, even though they are wrapped in plastic, “and the health service has to go to the cemeteries to bury them.”
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Cosenza also mentioned that “the virus is here to stay” and authorities will have to raise awareness about protection measures to allow burials.
Honduras, a Central American country with an estimated population of 9.8 million, has so far registered 1,055 infections with 82 deaths.
Authorities in the frontline of the pandemic report that about 40 percent of tests carried out daily turnout positive.
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