IOM Fears More COVID-19 Cases in Cox's Bazar Camps as Super Cyclone Reaches Bangladesh

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2020) Overcrowded refugee camps near the town of Cox's Bazar, where the first COVID-19 cases were confirmed last week, are at risk of facing a perfect storm as Super Cyclone Amphan is making a landfall in Bangladesh, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned.

The cyclone, one of the most powerful in the Bay of Bengal, reached a coast of Bangladesh and India earlier on Wednesday. Over 1 million people have been evacuated from the coast of Bangladesh. The disaster has already claimed its first victim. That is a local Red Crescent volunteer who drowned when his boat capsized while evacuating villagers ahead of the cyclone.

"We are extremely concerned that there will be a new humanitarian crisis in the district if a cyclone hits while we try to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Communities are already vulnerable to the devastating health crisis and we know that if people are forced to seek communal shelter, they will be unable to maintain physical distancing and run the risk of contracting or transmitting the disease," Manuel Pereira, deputy chief of mission for IOM Bangladesh, said in a statement, published late on Tuesday.

According to the IOM, some 1.2 million refugees and host community members are now under the threat of the cyclone with projected maximum sustained winds of 265 kilometers per hour (165 miles per hour).

First two cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Cox's Bazar last week - one involves a Rohingya refugee, and the other a local resident. As of Monday, the virus has been confirmed in five refugees, the IOM said. According to media reports, published on the same day, 197 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the town, including seven Rohingya. One person has died of coronavirus-related complications.