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. Sifting with bare hands, hundreds of scavengers including children expose themselves to a disease that has infected more than 15 million people globally and claimed over 600,000 lives. Bibi, 38, said she was worried about bringing the infection home to the couple's children, aged 16, 14 and 11. Dinesh Raj Bandela, an expert in biomedical waste at the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment, said protocols for disposal of biomedical waste were not necessarily being followed during the outbreak, putting those who sift through landfills at risk. (Reporting by Adnan Abidi and Sunil Kataria in New Delhi; Writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Source: The Star July 24, 2020 07:07 UTC