Children and adults living in informal settlements such as refugee and displacement camps are some of the most at-risk due to the overcrowded conditions and limited access to healthcare. Measures used to contain the spread of COVID-19 across Asia, such as self-isolation and hand washing, are extremely challenging in congested displacement camps.The largest refugee settlement in the world is home to 855,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Following decades of discrimination and rights abuses, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forced to flee their homes in Myanmar in 2017 into neighbouring Bangladesh. While safe from the brutal violence that forced them to leave Myanmar, the camps in Bangladesh lack access to essential services, especially healthcare, and the COVID-19 outbreak, will be catastrophic. Between 500,000-600,000 infections are predicted over the next 12 months, according to Johns Hopkins Centrefor Humanitarian Health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged that the existing essential healthcare services and inpatient capacity in the camps will quickly be overwhelmed by the demand for isolation and treatment beds for suspected COVID-19 patients. The WHO's Cox’s Bazaar team is allocating approximately 1,500 beds in Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Isolation and Treatment Centres (SARI ITC) in either new or adapted infrastructures for the refugees and the host community. It is recognised that this bed capacity remains far short of what is projected to be required but Humanitarian Advisors welcome this as a positive development.

There are 3,945 confirmed COVID cases in Cox’s Bazar District, but the real number is likely to be much higher.  Humanitarian Health Sector partners continued to support the health laboratory in Cox’s Bazar with human resources and equipment. As a result, COVID-19 testing capacity has increased to 1,500 samples per day. During the week up to 24 August, testing of refugees continued to increase: 699 refugees were tested, compared to 431 in the previous week. In host communities, testing also increased with 459 tests conducted compared to 334 in the previous week. Health Sector partners rolled out case management and infection prevention and control (IPC) training across Cox's Bazar, and have so far trained 101 healthcare workers.

UNHCR calls for lasting solutions for Rohingyas

The UN Refugee Agency has called for renewed support and lasting solutions for the displaced Rohingya communities both within and outside of Myanmar. Challenges persist and continue to evolve three years on from the latest exodus of Rohingyas who fled Myanmar and sought sanctuary in Bangladesh from August 2017. UNHCR is concerned by by the Covid-19 pandemic that has added additional complexities to the Rohingyas' situation.

The office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), the Bangladesh Government body based in Cox’s Bazar to coordinate with the Rohingya response, wants sole responsibility to administer the NGOs working in 34 camps inhabited by the persecuted people from Myanmar to ensure proper benefits for stakeholder with transparency and accountability, but the international community and response structure remains needed and in place.

Myanmar Government Again Bars Rohingya Candidates from Elections

The Myanmar government is again blocking Rohingya Muslims from running for political office in Myanmar. Election officials barred Kyaw Min, head of the Rohingya-led Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP), from running in the national parliamentary elections in November. He was disqualified along with two other DHRP candidates because their parents were allegedly not citizens as required by election law, one of the various tools used to oppress the Rohingya population. The situation for Rohingya in Myanmar remains troubling.

Myanmar locks down Rakhine capital after new outbreak of COVID strain

Myanmar has locked down the capital of conflict-torn Rakhine State after an outbreak of a new COVID strain that officials said was more infectious than that previously seen in the country. Nineteen people have tested positive for the virus in the western region since 17 August.  This is the first local transmission in Myanmar in months, bringing the total report number of COVID cases to 409 in Myanmar.