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Article

10 Aug 2020

Author:
Thomson Reuters Foundation

Brasil: Supreme Court rules Bolsonaro govt. must adopt measures to protect indigenous communities from COVID-19

“Brazil's court rules government must protect tribes from coronavirus”, 5 August 2020 

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled…that President Jair Bolsonaro's government must adopt measures to stop the spread of novel coronavirus to the country's vulnerable indigenous communities. A majority of the justices voted to give the government 30 days to draw up a plan to reduce the threat to indigenous people from COVID-19, which could wipe out some tribes…

The action was sought by Brazil's main indigenous umbrella organization APIB, backed by six opposition political parties that have criticized Bolsonaro for denying the gravity of the second worst coronavirus outbreak outside the United States.According to APIB, 631 indigenous people have died from COVID-19 and 22,325 cases have been confirmed among Brazil's 850,000 indigenous people. Half of Brazil's 300 indigenous tribes have confirmed infections.

The pandemic endangers indigenous communities with no access to healthcare in remote parts of the Amazon and whose communal living under large dwellings make social distancing impossible.Tribes face the loss of cultural traditions with the death of their elders stricken by the virus…