Dhaka: The first coronavirus cases in the cramped Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar have been officially confirmed.

Rohingya refugee camps on lockdown: So is Cox’s Bazar

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Two residents of the world’s largest refugee camp at Kutupalong tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, said Mahbub Alam Talukder, the refugee, relief and repatriation commissioner.

They have been kept in the isolation units of the International Organisation of Migration or IOM and the Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders.  

Their families will also be put into quarantine, he added.

Bangladesh has sheltered more than 1 million refugees from Myanmar and most of them live in the camps in Cox’s Bazar.

The camps were put on lockdown along with entire Cox’s Bazar district on Mar 11 after Bangladesh had reported the first coronavirus cases.

International organisations have expressed concerns over the risk of an outbreak at the crammed camps.

The infections were detected even after the refugee and relief commission and IOM took strict measures to keep the refugees out of the harm’s way amid the pandemic, Mahbubur said.
“It’s difficult to say how they have been infected,” he added.

Md Nikaruzzaman, the chief executive officer of Ukhiya Upazila administration, said one of the infected people was a refugee, but the other person was not Rohingya.

He said the authorities were tracing close contacts of the infected refugee.

“Another coronavirus case has been found near the registered campo. But that person is not Rohingya,” the UNO added.

Cox’s Bazar Civil Surgeon Mahbubur Rahman, however, said, 12 new coronavirus cases were reported in the district and two of them were Rohingya. The total number of COVID-19 patients confirmed in the district was 145.

https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2020/05/14/bangladesh-detects-coronavirus-cases-in-rohingya-refugee-camp