Huge refugee camp is ‘ticking timebomb’ after first death

FEARS are growing about the spread of the coronavirus in the world’s largest refugee camps in Bangladesh after it was announced yesterday that a 71-year-old man had become the first Rohingya to die from the disease.

Aid workers in the Kutupalong camps that house almost 860,000 people, mostly Rohingya, near the town of Cox’s Bazar have long warned that the virus could sweep through the squalid accommodation.

The man died on Sunday at the camp’s isolation centre, but Bimal Chakma, of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, said it was only yesterday that it was confirmed he had tested positive for Covid-19.

“We are going to speak to administrators in the camp and alert people about the death,” he said.

At least 29 Rohingya have tested positive for the virus since the first case was detected in the camps on May 14.

“It is a ticking time bomb,” said Alejandro Agustin Cuyar, a director with Relief International.

“Once the virus takes hold, it will be incredibly challenging to flatten the curve, so we are gravely concerned the numbers needing treatment will soon be overwhelming.”

Most of the refugees arrived in 2017 after fleeing a military-led ethnic cleansing campaign in their home in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Last year the Bangladeshi government cut off internet access within the camps − a decision which could have deadly consequences as many refugees remain uninformed about the symptoms and spread of the virus.

Since the first cases were detected in the camps officials have blocked roads leading to the centres for all but essential workers. Last week about 15,000 refugees were placed in quarantine as the number of cases increased.

However, Khin Maung, executive

‘Once the virus takes hold it will be challenging to flatten the curve so we fear we could be overwhelmed’

director of the Rohingya Youth Association, appealed to the Bangladeshi government to do more to enforce the wearing of masks, educate people about social distancing measures in the camps and improve treatment facilities. “A serious problem is that people do not know about social distancing,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“People are very worried because they know that people are dying around the world but they do not know real information about Covid-19, this is the real problem.”

In April a scientific modelling report by the Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Centre for Humanitarian Health showed estimated infections would range from 119-504 in the first 30 days after an initial case, and between 424,798 and 543,647 in 12 months.