May 17, 2020
This Week in Human Rights News
Photograph courtesy of © William Keo
Covid-19 in Cox’s Bazar
Source: Al Jazeera, NPR
Cox’s Bazar is the world’s largest refugee camp, where approximately one million Rohingya refugees are encamped.
Two people living in or around the camps have tested positive for Covid-19 and are now in isolation, with approximately 1,900 other refugees being isolated for tests.
The Rohingya in the crowded camps of Cox's Bazar have been living under lockdown since March 14, 2020.
Aid agencies have been warning for weeks about the potential impact of the virus on the Rohingya refugees who live in cramped, congested conditions and have limited access to clean water.
As many as 60,000 - 90,000 people are jammed into each square kilometre, with families of up to a dozen sharing small shelters.
Human rights groups have expressed concerns that the camps are hotspots of misinformation about the pandemic because of an internet ban imposed last September.
Dr Shamim Jahan, Save the Children's health director in Bangladesh, said in a statement that "now that the virus has entered the world's largest refugee settlement in Cox's Bazar we are looking at the very real prospect that thousands of people may die from Covid-19".
"Without efforts to increase health care access, improve sanitation, isolate suspected cases and decongest the camp, the disease will devastate the refugee and local population here." said International Rescue Committee's Bangladesh country director Manish Agrawal.