COVID-19 assails half of Brazil’s indigenous

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the Brazilian indigenous has reached 34,608, as per a survey conducted by a front exclusively assembled to monitor the spread of the disease. Also in its last update are 836 people killed by the novel coronavirus.

The front—joined by such entities as Brazil’s Indigenous People Association (APIB) and the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB)—states that transmission and fatal cases have been reported in 148 of the 305 indigenous groups living in the country. In other words, contamination has reached over half of them.

To carry out the monitoring efforts, the group also relies on collaboration from other base organizations, among public entities, like the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF).

Considering official figures alone, numbers are considerably lower. According to the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (SESAI), linked to the Health Ministry, confirmed cases of the disease stand at 28,716, along with 446 deaths among the indigenous. The difference is ascribed to the fact that the ministry does not report contagion in urban contexts—the criterion questioned by indigenous leaders which motivated the independent count.