Corona crisis in Brazil: state of emergency in the Amazon

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A woman came by boat to Ilha Marrecão in the Amazon to be tested for Corona

For the remote villages in the Amazon, the river is a lifeline. Almost everything that has to be transported reaches the settlements via water: people, food, goods, medicines.

But in the pandemic, the waterway also brings death: Amazon residents who travel by boat between villages and cities to shop, sell goods or get medical care have spread the coronavirus along the river. From the rainforest metropolis of Manaus, which has been a corona hotspot for months, the pandemic has reached isolated villages.

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Apurinã girls have specially dressed to greet a corona test team

Even lumberjacks and gold diggers, who continue to plunder the rainforest despite the crisis, and apparently also health workers have carried the virus in Amazon communities - and their inhabitants are often defenseless against the virus.

Local tribal leaders and organizations warn that indigenous peoples' immune systems are particularly vulnerable. The poor living conditions and previous illnesses could also cause a high death rate.

Several indigenous leaders have already died as a result of the virus. In total, the Apib organization has registered more than 22,600 corona infections among indigenous Brazilians and almost 640 corona deaths - and warns of the impending "extermination" of indigenous communities.

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Boats travel for hours to pick up patients - they are often too late

For many residents of the Amazon region, hospitals can only be reached by boat and are often hundreds of kilometers away. Medical teams are now fighting the crisis with boats and airplanes: Mobile teams are testing residents of remote settlements for Corona or evacuating patients who would otherwise have to die in their villages.

But even if the patients make it to the Amazon capital of Manaus, their lives remain in danger. As early as April, Manaus was the first Brazilian city in which the health system collapsed. All intensive care beds were occupied, the cemeteries overcrowded. The dead were stacked in mass graves or had to be temporarily stored in refrigerated trucks.

For the "New York Times", the photographer Tyler Hicks traveled around the Amazon for several weeks to document the spread of the virus - his pictures were first published here.

See in the photo gallery how the Amazon population is fighting the coronavirus - and how helpers are trying to save the infected:

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