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UK medics to help Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

Published

7 years ago

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London, Dec 28 (IANS) A team of British medical staff is travelling to Bangladesh to help tackle an outbreak of diphtheria affecting Rohingya Muslim refugee camps, the media reported on Thursday.

More than 40 doctors, nurses and firefighters will arrive at the fishing port Cox’s Bazar following a request from the World Health Organisation (WHO), reports the BBC.

Cox’s Bazar is home to more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled violence in bordering Myanmar.

The British government said the deployment was “another proud moment for the NHS (National Health Service)”.

This is the first deployment of Britain’s emergency medical team (EMT) since it was certified by the WHO in 2016.

The staff will be at the camps for six weeks working to fight the spread of diphtheria, as up to 160 new cases of the disease were being reported every day.

The highly contagious disease has already killed at least 27 people, according to health officials.

As of December 21, the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had seen more than 2,000 suspected cases in its health facilities. The majority of patients were between five and 14 years old, the BBC reported.

An estimated 620,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh following persecution from the Burmese military in their native state of Rakhine, since August.

The UN described the military offensive in Rakhine, which provoked the exodus, as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

–IANS
ksk/bg

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Corona

Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

Published

3 years ago

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May 4, 2022

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Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

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