Coronavirus infects 38 indigenous groups in Brazil
The Brazilian Indigenous Peoples' Association
(APIB) on Friday disclosed that coronavirus pandemic has hit 38 indigenous
groups in Brazil, raising fears for populations that have a history of being
decimated by outside diseases
The virus is reaching indigenous territories across
Brazil with frightening speed, the association said in a statement.
An APIB survey found 446 cases of the new
coronavirus and 92 deaths among the affected groups, mainly in the Brazilian
Amazon.
The grim news came a day after the indigenous
community of Parque das Tribos, outside the northern city of Manaus, held a
funeral for its chief, Messias Kokama, who died of COVID-19.
Kokama, who was 53, was buried in a closed casket
wrapped in plastic to avoid spreading the virus.
Brazil, the Latin American country hit hardest in
the pandemic, has seen its death toll spiral.
It has registered nearly 15,000 deaths and 220,000
cases so far, though experts say under-testing means the real figures could be
15 times higher or more.
The pandemic is also creating an opening for
illegal miners and loggers to encroach on indigenous lands, said rights group
Survival International.
Countless tribal areas are being occupied, with the
help of a government that seeks to fully kill the first inhabitants of the
world and does not seek to conceal it, "said the group.
It blamed the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro
for his attempt to open up protected indigenous lands to agriculture and
mining.
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