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How the pandemic is sending some Brazilians ‘two steps back’
Aug 7, 2020
When the coronavirus pandemic spread to Brazil, it dealt a double blow to Beathriz Samary.
In early March, the 21-year-old fell ill with a high fever, body aches and shortness of breath. While she was not able to get access to a coronavirus test, she suspects that what knocked her out for a month was Covid-19. "I was so ill, I couldn't even lift myself up," she recalls.
But the financial impact she suffered was just as hard. Ms Samary, who was earning most of her income from working as a manicurist, was no longer able to go to clients' homes. She and her partner were surviving on a "cesta basica", food parcels donated by a local charity in the Salsa e Merengue neighbourhood they call home.
"What saved us during that time were those food parcels," she says.
Even after she recovered, work was hard to come by. Ms Samary applied for emergency aid - a measure the government approved in April - but it took weeks to arrive. She and her partner fell behind on rent and their internet was cut off. "There was no money, not even for the basics."
Moving up
Before the pandemic, Ms Samary was among the millions of Brazilians who had been climbing out of poverty since the turn of the century.
In pictures: How coronavirus swept through Brazil What is the future of Brazil's drive to reduce poverty? Brazil celebrates Bolsa Familia
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