A Rohingya refugee in the massive Cox Bazaar refugee camp in Bangladesh has passed a positive COVID-19 test.
World Health Organization spokesman Catalin Bercaro told AFP, a French news agency, that rapid investigation teams have been deployed and both men’s contacts are “being tracked for quarantine and testing.
Both patients have been quarantined.
“Now that the virus has hit the world’s largest refugee settlement,” … we are looking at the very real prospect that thousands of people could die from Covid-19,” Dr. Shamim Jahan, Save the Children’s Health Director for Bangladesh, said in a statement. “This pandemic could put Bangladesh back decades.
The rescuers warned that if the virus appeared in a large camp, it would spread quickly due to unsanitary conditions in the camp.
The refugee camp is home to almost a million people.
Rohingya fled to Coxa Bazaar more than two years ago, after a military offensive that targeted them in Myanmar.
Before the virus appeared in the refugee camp, Bangladesh was already fighting the battle against COVID-19. In South Asia, nearly 18,000 confirmed cases of the virus have been reported, killing nearly 300 people.