The famous Brazilian cacique Raoni Metuktire was infected with the coronavirus and had to be hospitalized again, even if his state of health is
"good",
announced Monday the institute which bears his name.
A month ago, this chief from the indigenous Kayapo people, estimated to be 90 years old, spent ten days in the hospital treating gastric and intestinal ulcers.
A source from Dois Pinheiros hospital in Sinop, in Mato Grosso state (center-west), told AFP that Raoni was admitted again to the same establishment on Friday.
Read also: Brazil: Raoni must be released from the hospital on Saturday
But the Raoni Institute explained in a statement Monday that his relatives had decided not to make this information public
"until he was assured that he was out of danger".
“The reason (for the hospitalization) is the finding of changes in the level of leukocytes in the blood and symptoms of pneumonia.
Examinations have confirmed (the diagnosis) of Covid-19 ”,
we can read in this
press
release.
"His state of health is good, he has no fever, he breathes normally, without supply of oxygen",
continues the text, specifying that he will be released from the hospital
"soon, if his condition remains stable".
The diagnosis of Covid-19 was confirmed at midday in the hospital's medical bulletin, which also reports “heart inflammation” for which new examinations must be carried out.
“Raoni was treated with anticoagulants, corticosteroids and antibiotics,”
said the medical establishment.
Raoni is physically weakened and was greatly affected by the death of his wife Bekwyjka on June 23 from a stroke.
The cacique, who for the past 30 years has traveled the world with his feathered headdresses and his lip plate to denounce deforestation in the Amazon, was severely criticized last year by President Jair Bolsonaro who accused him of being the balance of foreign powers.
In an interview with AFP in early June, he accused the far-right leader of
"taking advantage"
of the coronavirus pandemic to decimate his people, whose access to public health services is very precarious.
According to data collected by the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, dating from Monday, 28,815 indigenous people have been infected with Covid-19 and 757 have died, including several large-scale caciques.
The Raoni Institute warns that
“the Covid-19 is spreading”
on the territory of the cacique in Mato Grosso and calls for help, at national and international level:
“protect yourself, protect yourself we".