Bangladesh has imposed a “complete lockdown” in Rohingya neighborhood in Cox’s Bazar district which is inhabited by over a million refugees from Myanmar.
The lockdown has been imposed as a measure against the spread of coronavirus, according to Bangladeshi officials.
The neighborhood is devoid of basic hygiene facilities and experts have warned that disease could spread quickly through the cramped, sewage-soaked alleys where the persecuted Muslim minority is living in canvas and bamboo shacks. So far the camps are clear of any infection but one infected case has been recorded nearby.
With the number of cases mounting to more than 200 nationwide in one week, including 20 deaths, the government ordered a lockdown of the district from late Wednesday, ensuring complete lockdown allowing no entry, no exit until the situation improves,” the directive said.
Police and soldiers set up roadblocks on the main roads of the district, home to 3.4 million people including the Rohingya refugees, and were conducting patrols inside and around the camps on Thursday.
More than 740,000 Rohingya fled a brutal 2017 military crackdown across the border in Myanmar and resettled in the squalid refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, where around 200,000 refugees were already living.
Rights groups and activists have expressed concerns that the camps have become hotspots for misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic because of an internet ban imposed last September.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya woke up in the middle of the night last month to recite the Muslim call to prayer, after rumours spread that the act could stop the spread of the virus.
Amnesty International has warned that basic accurate information about the disease was failing to reach many refugees in the camps.
The refugee commissioner said his office had asked Dhaka to remove the internet restrictions.