Tragedy in Progress: Covid-19 Invades Indigenous Villages, May Decimate Amazon Communities

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The 228th confirmed death from infection by the novel coronavirus in the Brazilian Legal Amazon area, according to data from yesterday’s Coordination of Indigenous Organizations in the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), once again sounded the alarm for a tragedy in progress: the spread of the disease among one of the most vulnerable groups in the country in terms of access to the Health System, with the risk of extermination of entire cultures and peoples.

The spread is worrying. Data collected on the same day by the Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health (SESAI) of the Ministry of Health pointed to 73 deaths, 1,716 confirmed cases, and 254 suspected cases in the Brazilian Amazon.

This number is around one-third of the numbers shown in independent surveys by other indigenous organizations, such as the COIAB, which considers cases not included in the Ministry’s database.

Land invasions by illegal miners (a recurrent problem in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory), the entry of infected health workers, and the displacement of indigenous peoples because of the promise of emergency aid, have emerged as major vectors of contamination. Once the virus reaches the indigenous villages, control of its spread is unlikely, given that regardless of the size of their territory, the form of social organization in these areas is entirely collective.

“In a single village, there may be a maloca (ancestral longhouse) with more than 100 indigenous living together, a fertile ground for infection by Covid-19. The risk is extreme,” explains Mario Nicacio, a vice-coordinator of COIAB, one of the country’s largest regional indigenous organizations, covering the nine states of the Brazilian Amazon.

The spread of Covid-19 among indigenous peoples was the focus of a note released by the UN Human Rights offices for South America, together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), on the occasion of last Friday’s celebration of International Environment Day. It has mobilized health agents, authorities, indigenous leaders, and artists from around the world, and on Tuesday was a topic of discussion at a press conference with Indigenous Health Secretary Robson Santos.

Asked whether the mortality rate from the novel coronavirus among these peoples is higher than the 3.9 percent reported by the Ministry of Health, the secretary said he “works with science” and that it points to a rate “below the national average”.

However, Santos concedes that it is difficult to fill doctor’s positions for the Special Indigenous Health Districts (DSEI).

Source: O Globo

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