Foreigners asked to defer Rohingya camp visits
The government as well as local and foreign humanitarian organisations have stepped up preparations, including setting up of isolation facilities, to contain the spread of COVID-19 at the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh.
There are, however, some gaps in the preparations due to the limited testing and intensive care capacities in the district and other hospitals, officials said, adding that securing skilled medical personnel to manage the situation would be a major challenge.
The office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner has asked all local and foreign humanitarian agencies to defer all non-essential visits to the camps by foreigners until further notice, according to officials.
The Wold Health Organisation has declared COVID-19 disease a pandemic.
An initial 47 isolation beds are now functional and stand ready at nine health facilities run by humanitarian partners at and around the Rohingya camps, with the potential to create more isolation capacity, according to officials in Cox’s Bazar.
These 47 isolation beds are in addition to the 100-bed isolation facilities operated by the district health administration with 50 beds in Ramu and 50 in Chakaria. More isolation capacity is also planned for Pekua.
All educational institutions and learning centres at the camps have also been closed after the government has closed all types of educational institutions across the country from 17 March to 31 March.
Awareness activities for hygiene practices are also going on inside the camps with support from Rohingya community leaders and volunteers, government officials said.
‘The crowded conditions at the Rohingya camps are posing a greater risk for spreading any communicable disease, including COVID-19,’ Catalin Bercaru, communication media relations official at the WHO Bangladesh country office said on Thursday.
The WHO is working closely with the government and with Cox’s Bazar health partners for preparedness, early detection and response, both in support of host Bangladeshi population and the Rohingya community, he said.
The government has called a meeting early next week to review the preparations taken so far to mitigate the risks of the spread of COVID-19 among Rohingya people in Bangladesh.
More than 7,00,000 Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, entered Bangladesh after fleeing unbridled murder, arson and rape during ‘security operations’ by the Myanmar military in Rakhine, what the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing and genocide, beginning from August 25, 2017.
The latest Rohingya influx has taken the number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees from that country in Bangladesh to about 11,16,000, according to estimates by UN agencies and Bangladesh foreign ministry.
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net
