Brazil recorded on Wednesday the first case of coronavirus in an Amerindian community, a young woman of 20 years living near the border with Colombia, announced the Ministry of Health.
“This is the only case of indigenous Covid-19 in Brazil,” said in a statement the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai), an organ of the ministry. The young woman of the Kokama ethnic group is a health professional living in Santo Antonio do Iça, in the state of Amazonas (north). She worked alongside a doctor who tested positive last week after returning from vacation in southern Brazil. “At the moment, she has no symptoms. Her family members are also under observation and in solitary confinement,” the press release added. The doctor’s 15 collaborators and 12 patients of the Tikuna ethnic group whom he recently treated were tested and placed under observation.
Brazil has nearly 800,000 Amerindians from over 300 ethnic groups. This country of 210 million recorded according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health 6,836 cases of Covid-19, including 240 deaths. In the state of Amazonas, 200 cases have been identified, including 3 fatal. The pandemic of the new coronavirus is a great source of concern for the Amerindian peoples of the Amazon, who have already suffered greatly from contact with the outside world. The illnesses brought by European settlers wiped out almost 95% of the Native Americans.
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