Suzanne Abou Said Daou

Manaus the biggest city of Amzon, has witnessed an increase of 578% rise of deaths from respiratory problems, (In the first 28 days of last month, there were 1,181 deaths from these causes in comparison to 174 during the same period of 2019) ,deforestation, on the other hand rose to 51% during the first three months of this year.

"We don't want miracles, what we need is a plane full of scanners, ventilators, medicines and PPE", said the Mayor of Manaus Arthur Virgílio, in response to what the president of Brazil Jair Messiah Bolsonaro said, though Messiah is his middle name, he does not do miracles, while the government had turned the blind eye to the devastating infringements in the Amazon!

Bolsonaro still believes COVID-19 is a common cold or flu, while Brazil has exceeded China in number of cases (today 8:00 am) 108,620 vs. 82,881, and in the number of deaths, 7,367     vs. 4,633.

In Manaus, the city with 2 million citizens, with the largest number of indigenous people in the country, the people are caught in the middle between central government negligence in the health system especially in the COVID-19 crisis, according to the Manaus City Hall, 140 burials were recorded in the city's public cemeteries just last Sunday . Of these, 41 died at home. The average number of burials exceeded one hundred the entire week. Before the pandemic, that average was 20 to 30 a day, while the previous fire season brought more respiratory ailments, the people fear the approaching new fire season next July, while miners and loggers are continuing to devastate large protected areas, encouraged by the silence from government, and some believe that their presence and contact with indigenous people in Amazon area could be an added factor to the increasing rates of COVID-19, that experts believe it didn’t still reach the peak yet.

The cases and deaths from the COVID-19 have put Brazil in the 9^th position globally, with more trenches dug for its victims.