BRASLIA: A Yanomami indigenous boy has died after contracting the coronavirus, authorities in Brazil said on Friday, raising fears for the Amazon tribe, which is known for its vulnerability to disease.

The 15-year-old boy, the first Yanomami to be diagnosed with the virus, was hospitalised a week ago at an intensive care unit in Boa Vista, the capital of the northern state of Roraima, officials said.

He died of severe respiratory complications on Thursday night, the Brazilian health ministry said in a statement.

Isolated indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest are particularly vulnerable to diseases brought in from the outside world, and a Yanomami rights group said the boy had come in to contact with “many” other indigenous people after he began showing symptoms.

The Hutukara Associa­tion blamed “inadequate medical care” for the boy’s death, saying he went more than two weeks without a proper diagnosis from the time he first went to the hospital with respiratory symptoms.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2020