Amazonian city declares virus state of emergency

The mayor of the Brazilian city of Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon, declared a 180-day state of emergency on Tuesday due to a surge of new cases of coronavirus. State authorities declared a lockdown for most of the city, allowing just a few stores to sell basic goods to long lines of residents waiting outside.

Restaurants, bars and other public gathering places have been restricted, while public events have been cancelled until at least March. Manaus was one of the first Brazilian cities slammed by the pandemic early last year, when hospitals turned away patients and the city cemetery was forced to bury people in mass graves. The city of about 2.2 million has recorded about 3,400 deaths since the start of the pandemic.