Rio's favelas count the cost as deadly spread of Covid-19 hits city's poor

The coronavirus was probably brought to Brazil by rich returning holidaymakers but it is threatening to explode in marginal communities

In many ways, Washington Castro was a typical resident of Rocinha, the immense redbrick favela that towers over Rio de Janeiro's Atlantic coast.

Industrious, God-fearing and the offspring of migrants from Brazil's parched and impoverished north-east, he supported two young children by working two separate jobs and wore a suit and tie when attending his local church.