Published on 12:00 AM, May 22, 2021

Rise in Covid Cases: Five Rohingya camps under strict lockdown

A view of the Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar. Star file photo

Amid a huge surge in Covid-19 cases in the region, a 10-day complete lockdown has been imposed in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf upazila while a week-long similar restrictions have been announced in five Rohingya camps in the district's Ukhiya and Teknaf upazilas.

"Cox's Bazar District Corona Prevention Committee has decided to impose the lockdown from May 21 to 30 in the wake of a rise in the number of infections in the region," Mohammad Parvez Chowdhury, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Teknaf, said yesterday.

Meanwhile, a strict lockdown has been imposed in Ukhiya camps -- 2, 3, 4, and 15 -- and Teknaf camp number 24 for a week from May 21, said additional refugee relief and repatriation commissioner Mohammad Shamshuddouza.

All activities in these camps have been suspended from yesterday, except emergency services like medicine and food supplies, officials said.

According to the health department in Cox's Bazar, 823 Rohingyas have been infected with the virus to date and 12 have died.

Bangladesh is currently hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas across 34 camps in Cox's Bazar and Bhasan Char.

Most of them have arrived in this country since August 25, 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a brutal offensive targeting the mainly-Muslim ethnic minority.