In Brazil's Manaus, Young People Step Up As Covid Bites

Manaus, Brazil, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Jan, 2021 ) :Haylena Barbosa, a 22-year-old Brazilian, has put her old life on hold to help ease the pain and logistical challenges wrought by a devastating second wave of Covid-19 in her home city of Manaus in the Amazon.

More than 4,000 people have died in Manaus since the epidemic started last year, and the city is struggling to cope with a fresh onslaught -- its hospitals are running low on beds and medical oxygen.

Manaus has seen record burials and refrigerated trucks have had to be brought in to hold bodies.

With hospitals overrun and medical staff exhausted, Barbosa and other young volunteers have taken it upon themselves to collect and distribute meals, basic cleaning materials, even drugs and medical equipment where it is most needed.

She told AFP she was prompted to action by the cruel deaths of some 100 patients who left the world gasping for breath in January due to a shortage of medical oxygen in Amazonas state, of which Manaus is the capital.

A week ago, Barbosa and her friends took to social media in search of donations of food, money, drugs and medical equipment.

On the very first day of the project, dubbed "Acao Covid" (Action Covid), they were able to hand out sanitizing hand gel and paper towels received from benefactors.

A week later, they were delivering 120 meals per day to health workers, as well as medical equipment to hospitals in the vast state of 4.2 million inhabitants.