Brazil's indigenous people ask WHO for emergency fund to help fight coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: An indigenous person from Pataxo ethnic group is seen inside the village Nao Xoha, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Sao Joaquim de Bicas, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Washington Alves

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Indigenous leaders in Brazil have asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to set up an emergency fund to help protect their communities from the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of indigenous people in Brazil who have died from the coronavirus so far has risen to 18, according to indigenous umbrella organisation APIB, although the Brazilian government has only officially reported six of the deaths.