Harrowing footage from a Brazilian city hit by the Coronavirus pandemic shows mass graves being dug as authorities struggle with the pandemic.

Manaus, in north-western Brazil, with a population of 1.7m, is continuing to bury bodies at an alarming rate as deaths surge due to the pandemic.

A cemetery in the city has seen a 500 per cent increase in the number of bodies it has to bury now compared with before the Covid-19 outbreak.

Aerial footage of the cemetery shows the scale of burials taking place in the region. Coffins arrive wrapped in plastic film to help stop the spread of the disease.

The surge of Covid-19 cases in Brazil is spawning fear that construction workers, truck drivers and tourists from Latin America’s biggest nation will spread the disease to neighbouring countries that are doing a better job of controlling the coronavirus.

The country’s borders remain open, there are virtually no quarantines or curfews and President Jair Bolsonaro continues to scoff at the seriousness of the disease.

When questioned about the number of Coronavirus victims in the country, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, said he “doesn’t do miracles”.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked. “I am Messias (his full name is Jair Messias Bolsonaro), but I don’t do miracles.”

There have been at least 79,361 confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil, with 5,511 deaths.