Brazil's Health Ministry announces that the coronavirus epidemic could spread to vulnerable and remote indigenous communities with devastating effect after doctor working with the largest tribe in the Amazon has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The doctor's infection is the first confirmed case of the virus directly present in an indigenous village. It raises fears of an outbreak that could be lethal for Brazil's 850,000 indigenous people that have a history of decimation by diseases brought by Europeans, from smallpox and malaria to the flu.
Health experts say their way of life in communal hamlets under large thatched structures increases the risk of contagion if any single member contracts the new coronavirus. Social isolation is hard for tribes to practice.
This article has been adapted from its original source DailyMail
