How refugee camps in Bangladesh are being defended against covid-19

By Andrew J Wight

The population density is high in Bangladesh’s refugee camps

SUZAUDDIN RUBEL/AFP via Getty Images

Coronavirus has begun spreading around refugee settlements, but in one of the world’s largest refugee camp complexes a worst-case scenario may have been avoided. A mathematical model run earlier this year by researchers at Johns Hopkins University – and now published following peer review – may have encouraged authorities to amplify measures that slowed the virus’s spread.

The Kutupalong-Balukhali Expansion Site in Bangladesh, containing 23 separate camps, is home to about 600,000 Rohingya people who fled ongoing violence in neighbouring Myanmar. The population density …