Despite the isolated geographical location, the Amazon has not been spared from the corona pandemic. Brazil, the country whose president previously called covid-19 "a little flu," has 63,328 confirmed disease cases and 4,298 confirmed deaths, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

According to CNN Brasil, the number of burials has risen from 30 a day before the pandemic erupted to 100 a day - and to cope with the pressure, mass graves have now begun to be excavated. Pictures from the area show how coffins have been erected in a huge sand pit while excavators are working next door.

"Can be big dark numbers"

SVT's Latin America correspondent Tigran Feiler says there are several possible explanations for why the Amazon has been hit so hard.

- It is a poor part of Brazil with neglected infrastructure. They have a heavy burden of medical care, for example the lack of care places has led to the mixing of confirmed disease cases with suspected cases which may have caused the virus to spread.

Tigran Feiler emphasizes that the disease statistics from the region are often not reliable and that the number of blacks can be high.

"People die in their homes"

Manaus Mayor Arthur Virgilio Neto said earlier in April that health care can no longer provide all care and that people have begun to die in their homes.

"Although we live in such a critical situation, probably the most serious in Brazil, we do not receive any help from the government to extend specialist care in our field hospitals," he told CNN Brasil.

Vanessa Leal, 31, lives in Manaus and works as an administrator. When SVT reaches her, she sits at home and works.

- It's scary, we didn't think it would go so badly. The hospitals have more or less collapsed because there is not enough staff and space, she says.

"Don't know what's true"

To a certain extent, the directives from the government are similar to those in Sweden: keep distance, stay inside and use mouthguards.

However, the confidence of the authorities seems to falter slightly.

- They are trying to do the right thing. But we do not know what are political motives and what are humanitarian motives. We do not know what is true and what is false, says Vanessa and continues:

- When you see your people die and you can't do anything about it, it's very, very sad. I wish I could do more, but I can just stay home and take care of myself and my family.