Category: Rohingya Reports

One Million Refugees, No Social Distancing, 49 Cases of Chinese Virus and 5 Deaths

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is the latest update on the Chinese Virus that we have been hearing for MONTHS will bring “catastrophe” to the world’s “vulnerable” refugee population.

Media vultures waiting to blame Trump (if they could) for refugee deaths from the Coronavirus!

It isn’t happening yet, although one gets the feeling that the liberal media is like vultures just waiting for the “carnage” to begin.

See my previous post here, with links to posts prior to that.  The COVID is not exactly running like a “wildfire” through the massive camp for the Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh.

Big test for the concept of social distancing!

The first case was reported in mid-May and the first death at Cox’s Bazar was on June 3rd!  Now there are five deaths.

Not exactly a wildfire!

 

From the Guardian:

Cox’s Bazar refugee camps: where social distancing is impossible

Social distancing simply isn’t possible for the 1 million Rohingya refugees who live in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, in southeastern Bangladesh.

Families live in close quarters inside flimsy bamboo shacks, using communal toilets and water facilities. Sometimes the most basic items, such as soap, are lacking.

Most of the Rohingya refugees living in the camp fled there in 2017, following a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military, which the UN has since said was carried out with “genocidal intent”. On top of psychological trauma, many have underlying health conditions that leave them especially vulnerable to Covid-19.

The UN, and other agencies, have raced to open new facilities in Cox’s Bazar, but equipment is still extremely limited, and it is feared medical centres could be quickly overwhelmed. As of 28 June, 49 cases and five deaths have been recorded.

Kind of makes you wonder if all the social distancing is a bunch of you-know-what and that there is some other reason for the large number of sick Americans.

Previous posts on COVID and Cox’s Bazar can be found in my Rohingya Reports category.

On World Refugee Day, No Major Outbreaks of Chinese Virus in Refugee Camps

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, you know if COVID was rampaging like “wildfire” through CROWDED camps housing millions of “vulnerable” refugees the “carnage” would make headlines worldwide today!

Try as I might, I could find no new stories about my personal petri dish—the huge camp at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh where we are told a million Muslim Rohingya live cheek by jowl in huts with no way to social distance.

I’ve been following the dire warnings on the expected crisis in the camps for months.

See my most recent posts here and here.  

The first death at Cox’s Bazar was reported on June 3, here. That is over two weeks ago.  We know of one more, so where is the carnage?

Here is a short video from the UN High Commissioner on Refugees and the World Health Organization apparently in time for World Refugee Day today!

The UNHCR says this (not exactly what the Leftwing media is going to trumpet):

We have not seen, or not seen yet I should say, major outbreaks where we feared the most in large concentrations, in refugee camps.

Watch it:

 

But, see here that the international humanitarian industry has moved on to link the Chinese virus to hunger and is warning of a double whammy of starvation and death by COVID.

Here is one thing they say you can do!

Write to Congress and tell them to send more of your tax dollars (borrowed from China) to feed the world.

You can save lives by being an advocate for the hungry, especially the refugees. Bread for the World encourages citizens to write letters to Congress urging them to make global food aid a priority in the budget.

I will be watching and continue to report when (if!) the virus crisis does impact the world’s migrant populations—a real test of the value, or lack of value, of social distancing, or mask-wearing for that matter!

Chinese Virus Update from Refugee Camp in Bangladesh

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When I saw this headline (below) this morning, I figured this was it—COVID-19 was running like a “wildfire” through the largest refugee camp in the world—Cox’s Bazar—where reports say that a million “vulnerable” Muslim Rohingya live check to jowl in filthy conditions—a prime location for coronavirus “carnage.”

From Devex:

As COVID-19 deaths rise in Cox’s Bazar, is increased testing enough?

Regular readers know that I have been following the dire warnings now for months about the “catastrophe” the international humanitarian community and the mainstream media has been predicting for Cox’s Bazar and other large refugee camps around the world.

Described by the mainstream media as a “tinderbox,” no social distancing is possible at Cox’s Bazar refugee camp for Rohingya Muslims

 

See my previous post here about the first Chinese Virus death in the camp.

Now here is the story about how the deaths have been rising (remember the first case of Covid was reported a month ago)—rising to two!

MANILA — Bangladesh has reported a second death due to COVID-19 in the Rohingya refugee community in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday along with five new positive cases.

[….]

Bangladesh has put areas of Cox’s Bazar on lockdown over the weekend. Cases in the district have gone over 1,000, according to the latest government data. However, only a small percentage comes from the refugee community in Cox’s Bazar, where 35 cases have been reported to date since the first one was confirmed last May 14.

So much for modeling out of Johns Hopkins!

An earlier modeling analysis by Johns Hopkins University in March projected that a single case there could lead to an estimated 119-504 cases under a low- to high-transmission scenario in the first 30 days.

“The numbers are not rising as we had feared. However, all the conditions are present for an extremely serious situation for one of the most marginalized people groups in the world,” Matt Ellingson, director of relief and humanitarian affairs at Food for the Hungry, told Devex last week.

More here.

We will be watching and reporting on this important test area for the value (or lack of value) of social distancing.

The best way to see my previous posts on the virus at Cox’s Bazar is to see my Rohingya Reports category where I have archived all of my posts for the last dozen years about Rohingya refugees.

Still on the Hunt for Chinese Virus at Cox’s Bazar

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Now, we are told, the reason so few cases have been reported at the world’s supposedly largest refugee camp in Bangladesh is that the residents fear they will be isolated if found to be infected and are therefore refusing testing.

I know this is likely boring for most of you, but since I started following the warnings of “catastrophe” and “carnage” as the Chinese Virus spread “like wildfire” to camps where “vulnerable” migrants live in close proximity to each other, I’m compelled to give you updates.

Literally for months there have been dire predictions of the impending crisis, that has not yet materialized.

Only one death of an old man so far as I said here on Wednesday.

Here is the latest from Reuters:

Fear stops Rohingya getting tested as virus hits refugee camps

BANGKOK/DHAKA (Reuters) – Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh with symptoms of the novel coronavirus are not coming forward to get tested because they fear being separated from their families and held in isolation, community leaders and aid workers say.

Only one death from the coronavirus has been recorded in the crowded camps in southeast Bangladesh, where some 730,000 Muslim Rohingya fled in 2017 to escape a military crackdown in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Yale Economics Professor Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak visited the camp and told Reuters he is sure the disease prevalence is much higher than testing so far indicates. https://faculty.som.yale.edu/mushfiqmobarak/

But aid workers fear the coronavirus may be spreading faster through the world’s largest refugee settlement than the 29 cases confirmed since mid-May would indicate. Only 339 tests have been carried out in the camps, officials said, partly because people were simply not going to health facilities to get checked.

“Camp hospitals are empty and illegal doctors’ shops are full,” said 23-year-old refugee Mujef Khan, a community organiser, referring to pharmacies in the camps run by refugees where people buy pills to treat themselves.

“Many people are getting sick day by day – in every shelter,” he said.

Three Rohingya leaders interviewed by Reuters said coronavirus symptoms were prevalent in the camps that sprawl out over hills near the border with Myanmar.

The camps are more densely populated than the most crowded cities and sanitation is poor and social distancing impossible. [This will be the ultimate test in my opinion of whether social distancing matters or not!—ed]

While new testing facilities and treatment centres are being built, a surge in cases could overwhelm the camps, aid workers said.

Much more here.

I guess if they aren’t bothering to be tested, they aren’t that sick.  However, they won’t be able to hide the deaths and so we will then get a better indication if the “tinderbox” has exploded as the media has been predicting literally for months!

I have been writing about the Rohingya for nearly 13 years.  You need to know they are being resettled in the United States right now.  See my Rohingya Reports category to learn more about this Muslim ethnic group.

Bangladesh: First Chinese Virus Death Reported in World’s Largest Refugee Camp

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As I said a couple of days ago, I know you have more important things on your mind, but I did say I would follow closely the long-predicted “carnage” coming to refugee camps where thousands upon thousands of people are packed cheek by jowl in camps like the one at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.

The breathless news was reported by several outlets within the last 24 hours. One gets the feeling that the international media can’t wait to report on “catastrophe” befalling the “vulnerable.”  (But, if they could only find a way to blame Donald Trump!)

Here is the headline at Reuters:

RPT-UPDATE 2-First Rohingya refugee dies from coronavirus in Bangladesh camps

DHAKA, June 2 (Reuters) – An elderly Rohingya refugee has become the first person to die from coronavirus in the world’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh, where there are fears the disease could spread fast due to overcrowding.

The 71-year-old man died on May 31 while undergoing treatment at an isolation centre at the camps where over a million Rohingya live, said Bimal Chakma, a senior official of the government’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission.

“Today we got the confirmation that he tested positive for COVID-19,” he told Reuters by telephone.

Note that he died from something prior to being tested for the Chinese virus.

Reuters goes on to report that there are now 29 cases in the camp that houses a million Rohingya Muslims.

I am watching because this is the ultimate test of the importance (or lack of it) of social distancing.

By the way, we have admitted Rohingya Muslim refugees to the US in the last couple of months.