Brazil military distribute face masks to largest Amazon tribe amid coronavirus fear

Brazilian Army on July 1 handed out face masks to the indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest for the second day of a military operation aimed at protecting isolated tribes from coronavirus outbreak. Brazilian armed forces carried out a massive drive to test the indigenous Yanomami people for COVID-19 and the Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo said that they have detected zero cases so far, claiming the situation to be under control. Yanomami is a group of some 35,000 people who live in villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil.

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The most recent threat that the Yanomami people face is an invasion from illegal gold miners, who have infiltrated the country's largest reservation, poisoning rivers, killing tribals, and destroying forest lands. According to reports, two tribal people were allegedly shot by illegal gold miners on the reservation land, which Defence Minister Azevedo has termed an isolated case and said that an investigation is being carried out by the police. Indigenous leaders have also appealed to the Supreme Court of the country to order the federal government to protect reservations and tribals from illegal miners, poachers, etc. 

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COVID-19 in Brazil

According to indigenous umbrella organization APIB, coronavirus has also impacted the tribals in the forest saying that over 400 people have died due to the disease so far and nearly 10,000 people have been infected. APIB said that COVID-19 has infected people across 112 different tribes. Brazil is currently the second-most affected country in the world and the only nation after the United States to recond more than a million coronavirus cases. Brazil has logged in over 1.4 million coronavirus cases to date, of which 60,632 people have lost their lives, according to figures by Johns Hopkins University. 

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