The total number of indigenous deaths from Covid-19 may be four times higher than the official figure, says Apib.
According to data from the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai), the official number is seven deaths among the indigenous population. However, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) reports 27 deaths related to Covid-19.
247 - Underreporting of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus is masking the spread of the disease in Brazil, according to the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib). According to data from the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai), the official number is seven deaths among the indigenous population. Apib, however, reports 27 deaths related to Covid-19.
According to a report on the journalist's blog Laura JardimThe difference between the data is due to a committee created by APIB to monitor and systematize suspected, confirmed, and death cases among the indigenous population.
“Our statistics come directly from the primary source, the families. What is a number to the government is a relative to us, a person with a life story. Just because a young person went to the city to attend college, for example, doesn't mean they stopped being indigenous,” emphasizes the indigenous leader and executive coordinator of APIB, Sonia Guajajara.