With 2,433 cases and 57 deaths registered in Brazil according to the latest statement from the Ministry of Health and 8 confirmed cases in Roraima due to the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, indigenous leaders concerned about the proliferation of the disease and through the recommendations of the Ministry of Health (MS) and the State Secretariat of Health of Roraima (SESAU), several communities have closed and are controlling the entry of people into their territories.
To maintain the monitoring of the communities, the indigenous peoples have the support of the Group for the Protection and Surveillance of Indigenous Territories (GPVITI), this is the case of six communities in the Manoá Pium Indigenous Land, Serra da Lua region, municipality of Bonfim:Cachoeira do Sapo, Pium, São João, Cumarú, Manoá, and Novo Paraíso of the Manoá Pium indigenous land, in addition to the Moskow and Jabuti communities. The Truaru da Cabeceira community and Serra da Moça indigenous land - Murupu region, municipality of Boa Vista and also Barata, Pium and Raimundão 1 communities - Municipality of Alto Alegre.
The tuxaua Ronaldo Francisco Wapichana is part of the surveillance group of the Jabuti community, Serra da Lua region, together with his community took the necessary measures to immediately prevent the entry of people.
"We have been having the job of inspecting our community, we have to worry about the coronavirus, which has been scaring us and so we control the entry of people who come from Boa Vista and also from the municipality of Bonfim', he said.
Due to the same situation in the fight against the coronavirus, the Moskow community also closed the entrance to the community. "This virus is getting worse and worse in our state and municipality of Bonfim Serra da Lua region, we will be closing the entrances to our Moskow community, only emergencies will be allowed, we have everyone's support", highlighted the tuxaua Carlos Wapichana.
The tuxaua of the truarú da cabeceira, Murupú region, Laudenir Laurentino of the Macuxi ethnic group, highlighted that the decision to close all entrances to the community is important because they are urgent measures that are necessary to prevent residents from contracting the virus that is spreading in the state.
In Roraima, according to partial data from the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (SESAI), there are more than 342 communities with a population of 70,596 indigenous peoples of the Macuxi, Wapichana, Ingarikó, Patamona, Taurepang, Wai Wai, Yekuana, Yanomami, Sapará, Pirititi and Wamiri Atroari peoples, among which there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in indigenous communities. Therefore, the leaders expect everyone to respect these measures.