Paraguay’s indigenous jeopardized by Covid-19, says report

A recent Pulitzer Center shed light on the indigenous crisis in Paraguay and the ways in which it has been aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic. The study quotes figures updated in late January showing that at least 259 people in 14 of Paraguay’s 19 indigenous communities have been infected by the virus, with 26 deaths. 

Paraguay has faced much coronavirus-related distress in recent months, with record case levels and overcrowded hospitals. This situation is even more acute for poor, rural communities, something already alerted to by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and scientific journal The Lancet.

The Pulitzer Center states that the impact of the pandemic is “significant” among indigenous groups “due to the deficient and weakened public health system and, above all, due to the pre-existing conditions of poverty and exclusion.”

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