In early May, the new coronavirus swept through the crowded homes in Alley 24 of Rocinha, one of the largest of Brazil’s favelas, or slum communities.
Twenty of the 35 members of Ivanete Dias de Carvalho’s extended family who live crammed together here came down with symptoms of Covid-19, from high fevers to fluid-filled lungs. Few were able to get a test. Her 65-year-old aunt died.
And the disease rolls on. Across Rio, the official number of deaths is approaching 6,000. For Brazil, with a population of 210 million, that number is more than 51,000, with 1.1 million people infected—a toll second only to the U.S. The real tally of dead is almost certainly much higher, public-health experts say.
To read the full article on The Wall Street Journal, click here.
