A remote Amazon tribe recorded its first COVID-19 death and experts fear indigenous people could be wiped out by the coronavirus.

Articles by Reuters, New York Post and the BBC confirm the Amazon tribe’s first COVID-19 death and that indigenous people are endangered by the virus.

Articles by Reuters, New York Post and the BBC confirm the Amazon tribe’s first COVID-19 death and that indigenous people are endangered by the virus.The New York Post, citing various news reports, says that health officials with Brazil’s Ministry of Health confirmed that Alvanei Xirixan, a teenager who belonged to the Yanomami community, died after testing positive for coronavirus on 9 April 2020. He was admitted to the general hospital in Boa Vista, Roraima and that he suffered from shortness of breath, chest pain, a sore throat and fever.

Reuters has reported that the health official said that it has raised fears that the epidemic would spread among the largest indigenous tribe in northern Brazil. It also reported that anthropologists and health experts have warned that the coronavirus could have a devastating impact on Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people who are vulnerable to external diseases and whose lifestyle in tribal villages rules out social distancing.

Federal University of So Paulo researcher Dr Sofia Mendonça told BBC News on 6 April 2020 that there is a huge risk of the virus spreading across the native communities and wiping them out.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.