May 18, 2020

Anna Murray 

According to the COVID-19 data as of May 17, Brazil has soared more than 16,000 death tolls. Reportedly there are many infection cases in the major city, Manaus, where the indigenous people dwell up the Solimoes and Negro rivers merge in the Amazon region.

Earlier on April 1, the Brazilian Health Ministry’s Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena (SESAI) announced a 20-year-old woman who lives in the Kokama tribe of the Amazon rainforest became the first indigenous Brazilian individual to contract the COVID-19 disease.

According to the latest report of the Coronavirus infection cases in the remote Amazon community of Betania, some Tikuna tribe people were infected with the COVID-19 and 2 died after returning from a 2-hour boat trip down the Solimoes River to receive their government benefit payments and buy food for family.

The indigenous tribes have no medical doctors and no health infrastructure in their communities. The Congress of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) fears genocide may arise amid the Coronavirus pandemic, spread out over 300 tribes and threaten the lives of Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people.

On May 5, the COICA announced the launch of the Amazon Emergency Fund to raise US$8 million within 60 days, an initiative sponsored by Rainforest Foundation US. The COICA hoped to purchase food, medicine, and protective equipment as well as support scientific information for indigenous tribes.

Photo:Webshot.