Dadaab Refugee complex camp |
Two residents of the
Dadaab Refugee complex camp have tested positive for Covid-19, the United
Nations refugee agency has announced.
These first confirmations of the presence of
the Coronavirus are raising fears that it could spread in the camps and
surrounding communities.
“The crowded conditions in the Dadaab refugee
camps, where health services are already under pressure, raise serious concerns
about the vulnerability of over 217,000 refugees,” the UN agency said. It noted
that another 320,000 persons living near the camps are also potentially
vulnerable to the outbreak.
No positive tests for Covid-19 have been
reported in the Kakuma camps, which are hosting 196,000 refugees.
The two infected individuals in Dadaab have
been sent to isolation centres and are in stable condition, said Eujin Byun, a
spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for High Refugees.
Contact tracing has been initiated by a disease
surveillance and response team from Kenya's Ministry of Health.
Dadaab has no intensive care units, Ms Byun
noted.
But the UN agency does have other resources to respond to the virus outbreak in Dadaab.
Beds for 955 patients have been provided in
isolation and quarantine centres, while an additional 125 hand-washing stations
have been installed at food distribution sites, schools and markets.
Frontline health workers are being given
protective equipment, including 45,000 surgical masks, the UN said. More than
500 medical personnel, including 18 doctors and 150 nurses, are serving
Dadaab's population, which consists almost entirely of Somali refugees.
Four “oxygen concentrators” are also available
in the camps. They function similarly to respirators and require little
maintenance and minimal skills to operate, Ms Byun noted.
Double food rations are being given to Dadaab
households in order to reduce the need for queuing.
Donations are lagging in response to the UN's
appeal for $745 million to assist refugees around the world affected by
Covid-19. Only 31 percent of that targeted sum has so far been received, the
refugee agency said.
Donor response to an appeal for general support
for the nearly half-million refugees living in Kenya has been even poorer.
The UN's 2020 goal of $157 million in aid to refugees in Dadaab, Kakuma and Nairobi had reached the 21 percent mark as of May 15, the UN said.
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