April 3, 2020

Anna Murray 

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

The unnamed woman, diagnosed as the first indigenous Brazilian COVID-19 case, is a medical worker and came in contact with a doctor infected earlier with Coronavirus in the district of Santo Antonio do Içá.

Indigenous communities within the Amazon rainforest are commonly known to be vulnerable to hepatitis B, malnutrition, tuberculosis and other ailments due to their weak immune systems. Therefore, health officials fear that the Coronavirus may quickly spread out over 300 tribes and threaten the lives of Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people. In addition to Brazil, Colombia has also reportedly identified several Coronavirus cases among its indigenous tribes.

Photo:Webshot.