Rohingya Refugees at High Risk of COVID-19 in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has been ranked among the 17 countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases. On June 19, 2020, the number of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in Bangladesh reached 105 535, with 1388 official recorded deaths among only 585 548 people tested in the country since the first case was identified on March 8, 2020. Several factors suggest that Bangladesh could be one of the next COVID-19 hotspots: it has a high population density; it has poor health infrastructure and resources; there has been poor adherence to physical distancing; complete lockdown has not been ensured at a national level; there is uncoordinated population mobility between rural and urban areas; there is little awareness of COVID-19 among the population; home quarantine has been used in place of institutional quarantine for returning overseas travellers; there are overcrowded urban areas with substandard housing; health institutions have limited capacities; and effective governance has been largely absent. In addition, the country is accommodating 1 118 576 forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals named as Rohingya, including 860 175 Rohingya people who are sheltering in the world's largest refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, a city in southeastern Bangladesh.