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Covid-19 fears grow for indigenous South Americans as Yanomami teen tests positive
Fifteen-year-old boy is one of seven indigenous Brazilians to test positive for coronavirus in three Amazon states
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Wed 8 Apr 2020 15.29 EDT
Fears over the devastating impact coronavirus could have on South America’s indigenous communities have grown after a teenager from Brazil’s Yanomami people tested positive for the illness in the Amazon.
The 15-year-old is reportedly being treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima, the northern Brazilian state where much of the Yanomami reserve is located.
. . .
Authorities say the boy – who is reported to have travelled back into the Yanomami reserve last month after classes at his school were suspended – is one of seven indigenous Brazilians to test positive for the coronavirus in three Amazon states: Pará, Amazonas and Roraima.
Public health specialists have warned coronavirus could wreak havoc on indigenous groups in countries such as Brazil, Peru and Venezuela. Highly infectious diseases such as measles, smallpox and flu viruses have a long and horrific track record of decimating such communities.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/08/coronavirus-indigenous-communities-brazil-yanomami