COVID-19 Strikes Isolated Amazonian Tribe As 15-Year-Old Dies Of Coronavirus

A 15-year-old boy, who belongs to an indigenous tribe living in isolation at the Amazon rainforest, has died of COVID-19 on Thursday (April 9), according to the Ministry of Health in Brazil.

The teenager, identified as Alvanei Xirixan, was reportedly taken to Roraima General Hospital on April 3 after he complained of sore throat, fever, shortness of breath and chest pains. He was admitted to the intensive care unit.

The boy was one of 26,000 Yanomami living in the remote Rehebe village located by the Uraricoera River near the border of Brazil and Venezuela. The Yanomami is the largest isolated indigenous tribe in South America.

In the past, the Yanomami have had outbreaks of diseases like flu and measles following visits from missionary groups and military agencies. As a remote community, the tribe has no immunity to infectious diseases.

"Today we had a confirmed case in the Yanomami, which concerns us a lot," the health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said in a press conference. "This is a government concern for indigenous health. We have to be triply cautious with (indigenous) communities, especially the ones that have very little contact with the outside world," he added.

The Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) said in a statement that illegal miners may have likely spread the virus among the Yanomami. The group claimed that there are over 20,000 illegal miners who can go in and out of their remote territory as there are no control and sanctions.

"The Yanomami, as many other indigenous people, are among the groups most vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19 and should be urgently protected, under the risk of genocide with the complicity of the Brazilian State," the group said.

However, reports from Brazilian news agencies revealed that the teenager returned to his tribe after Brazil closed its schools last month to control the spread of the virus.

Xirixan is the third indigenous individual to die from COVID-19. The other patients have been staying in the city when they contracted the virus. Reports cite that there are at least seven more indigenous people who have tested positive for coronavirus.