Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has registered more than 2,200 fires during the evaluation of satellite images in the Amazon region in May.

According to the institute, this is almost 20 per cent more than in the same period the previous year and represents the most fires since June 2007.

More than 2,000 square kilometres of rainforest were cleared between January and May.

With the start of the dry season in the Amazon, environmentalists and climate activists usually sound the alarm. It is assumed that the authorities are not following the issue as closely as usual this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Critics also accuse President Jair Bolsonaro's government of fuelling deforestation and slash-and-burn tactics.

Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist, is a supporter of the economic exploitation of the Amazon. He was heavily criticized for the devastating fires in the Amazon region last year.

He is accused of accepting the destruction in order to open up new areas for agriculture, animal husbandry and mining.

His minister for the environment, Ricardo Salles, had indicated earlier this year that the government ought to take advantage of the fact that society's attention is focused on the coronavirus to ease environmental regulations for the Amazon region.