nlp-thedeep/humsetbias huggingface dataset:
In 20 camps, 295 Burmese Language Instructors  ( BLIs )  shared COVID 19 hygiene messages through audio clips with 13,808 Rohingya parents, community members and caregivers; and disseminated awareness leaflets to 9,817 parents and community members.
[ 7 June 2021, cox's Bazar ]  Between weeks 23 24, 219 new confirmed cases were detected from 2169 samples tested, the test positivity was therefore 9.3%. As of 20 June 2021, the cumulative incidence is 157.5 per 100 000 people. The overall positivity of samples tested is 3.3%. Among the cases, 2.5% showed severe symptoms at the time of admission while 5.4% reported at least one co morbidity.
[ 22 March 2021, Bangladesh ]  Essential Health Services: More than 4 million Outpatient  ( OP )  services were provided by the public health facilities in Bangladesh in February 2021. The OP service utilization in Feb 2021 has increased by 13% compared to that of January 2021. However, OP utilization of Feb 2021 is 21% lower than that of the OP utilization in Feb 2020  ( which was before the pandemic ) , indicating more efforts needed to bring it back to the level that was in the past
Moreover, 897 BLIs provided remote guidance on COVID 19 prevention, wellbeing and self care to 62,402 Rohingya children, youth and adolescents. A further 914 BLIs provided at home educational support, explaining learning materials and activities to 86,988 learners.
Meanwhile, 815 educational facilitators shared COVID 19 awareness messages and caregiver led education instruction to 7,771 parents, caregivers and community members; and 448 educational facilitators trained 57,964 community volunteers, youth and adolescent volunteers on Education in Emergencies and child, adolescent, and youth friendly awareness messages
Education Sector partners provided 2,442 Learning Centre Management Committee  ( LCMC )  members with remote support in conducting informal LCMC meetings regarding COVID 19 Preparedness and LC safety and security. In the host community, 83 Bangladeshi volunteers distributed 906 awareness leaflets and 168 teachers disseminated educational instructionsand COVID 19 awareness messages to 1,741 Bangladeshi parents and community members.
The urgent provision of additional shelter assistance and increased field presence are needed, which may require a revision of the COVID 19 containment measures in line with the current health precautions. Increased resources and funds are necessary to respond to the surge in shelter needs.
The implementation of COVID 19 mitigation measures combined with the temporary shelter materials used in housing construction and poor weather conditions all contributed to the drastic increase in damages. As shelter support was not considered lifesaving, regular programming was suspended in late March and Rohingya refugees were left without further shelter support or replacement of perishable materials, such as bamboo and tarpaulin.Not all shelter repair and improvement programs could be implemented over this period, aggravating the overall risk of damage. Only emergency shelter response continued without disruption
COVID 19 containment measures put a temporary halt to activities carried out by Shelter Sector partners, such as shelter improvements, repair, maintenance, training, preparedness messaging, and the delivery of additional shelter materials. Site development partners could not complete pre monsoon infrastructure reinforcement work on bridges and pathways or slope failure mitigation initiatives. As a result, accessing essential services and assistance, including distributions, is even more challenging and dangerous, especially for older people, people with disabilities, people with chronic illness, pregnant women, and children.
In some cases, materials  ( i.e. steel footings )  could not be distributed as they require training for proper installation and group activities were restricted as they would increase the risk of COVID 19 transmission.
In addition, the longterm work of the Cyclone Preparedness Programme  ( CPP )  supported early signalling and preparatory activities in the camps and surrounding communities ahead of Cyclone Amphan, which made landfall in Bangladesh on 20 May 2020 but with minimal impact on Cox's Bazar. This work continues, despite the challenges of COVID 19 restrictions, to ensure the safety of the community now experiencing the impacts of the monsoon.
The inability to conduct comprehensive, planned shelter improvements, repairs and maintenance prior to May of this year correlates with twice as much damage as last year, highlighting the need for robust materials, monsoon preparedness activities, and continued access to the camps for shelter assistance conducted in accordance with COVID 19 prevention recommendations.
[ 23 march, 2021, Bangladesh, cox Bazar ] The devastating fire that broke out in Rohingya camps of Kutulpalong Balukhali area on Monday afternoon displaced several thousand families who are squatting in the nearby open areas. Government response services, including fire services, rescue and response teams, and volunteers rushed to the spot immediately. Aid and development agencies joined the response efforts by the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner  ( RRRC )  office and the work is still ongoing.
[ October 2020, Bangladesh ]  Increased difficulties accessing health services during the pandemic, with distrust, dissatisfaction and misinformation hindering health seeking behaviours. Women, children, transgender persons and persons with disability all face more barriers in accessing health services. Access to crucial services such as sexual, reproductive, and maternal health services are reduced.
The loss of livelihoods, coupled with decreased access to the local markets, has disrupted economic activity and increased the support needs of Bangladeshis in the District. This is especially true for the most marginalized and vulnerable, such as persons living with disabilities, households headed by women, and the elderly. The breakdown of food production and market systems during the crisis could lead to years of decreased agricultural productivity and worsening of food and nutrition indicators
[ 16th April 2021, Bangladesh ]  Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year and the first death was announced 10 days later. Health authorities announced 4,192 new cases in a 24 hour period till Friday morning, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services  ( DGHS ) . Bangladesh's daily infection rate rose to 21%, up from 20.89% on Wednesday. Coronavirus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
As part of COVID 19 risk prevention measures and infection prevention and control  ( IPC )  compliance in host communities and camps, partners disinfected 54,809 WASH facilities and 2,178 public buildings.
[ October 2020, Bangladesh ]  COVID 19 and the accompanying containment measures have had a significant impact on women, girls, men and boys, including female sex workers, transgender persons and people with disabilities, across all camps, exacerbating existing conditions, such as overcrowding, movement across hilly terrain, uneven access to a limited number of WASH and health facilities and inadequate access to protection and hygiene resources.
[ October 2020, Bangladesh ]  Safety and security risks have increased during the pandemic for everyone, but preexisting gendered risks are exacerbated. Gender based violence is increasing, including IPV, polygamy, transphobic violence, and violence against female sex workers, while access to support is more restricted.
Imams conducted 218 awareness sessions on COVID19 prevention, reaching 3,852 individuals in 11 camps.Community groups conducted over 31 targeted community discussions to raise awareness on preparations for the monsoon season, reaching 234 individuals  ( of whom 46% were women and girls )
860,000 refugees in the camps*  ( 51% children, 45% adult, 4% older persons and 1% persons with disability )  100 percent of the population in the camps provided with general food assistance Over 500,000 host community members targeted as part of the COVID 19 special support
The host communities living near the camps also face challenges in protecting themselves from the virus, and the containment measures taken by the government are likely going to have further adverse economic impacts on these communities.
In July, WFP again provided the entire refugee population with food assistance through evouchers  ( 88 percent )  at 17 outlets and in kind  ( 12 percent )  at six distribution points. The monthly entitlement was BDT 1,013  ( USD 12 )  per person.
Distribution of high energy biscuits and super cereal under school feeding and nutrition programmes was integrated into GFA to centralize distribution of services. Additional porters were engaged to support the households in transporting the food packages.
As of 30 July, WFP supported over 100,000 host community households  ( 500,000 individuals )  across Cox's Bazar's eight sub districts with cash and food distributions through the Special Support to Host Community  ( SSHC )  programme
Sexual and gender based violence has long posed a problem throughout the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar. The lock down is exacerbating such problems by forcing a shut down of child and women friendly spaces. As in other countries, women's rights activists inside the camps have reported an increase in domestic violence and sexual abuse.Razia Sultana, the Executive Director RW Welfare Society, works with fellow Rohingya inside the camps, and reports that domestic violence has become a serious issue as anxiety over food shortages and residing in close quarters boils into frustration and aggression. But restrictions on communication hampers aid providers' ability to coordinate responses and provide protection for victims of such aggression
• WFP continues to facilitate mask production in skills development centres across nine camps with 110 Rohingya women. They have produced 143,500 masks so far, including over 55,000 child size masks, of which 80 percent have been handed over for distribution in coordination with FSS.
Policy Recommendations: A major role for international financial institutions  ( IFI ) . Member State shareholders of IFI's should push for big increases in support to at risk communities, particularly Bangladesh. Any assistance to Myanmar must include strong accountability measures, to ensure that funding is not being diverted and is being directed to the Rohingya.
WFP delivered 10,000 disposable gowns donated by Join Together Society  ( JTS ) , a Korean NGO, to support COVID 19 response in Cox's Bazar. The gowns will be distributed to health partners and WFP's frontline staff. The Logistics Sector is facilitating delivery to health partners.
Scale up sanitation assistance. Particularly in Cox's Bazar, it is imperative that assistance support weak and overburdened sanitation systems.Public information campaigns. Information must get to those who need it. Public information campaigns should be designed to reflect the realities of refugee and IDP camps.
Awareness raising on child protection risks continued with 21 key messages finalized and translated for dissemination in the camps by volunteers, Child Protection focal points, and community members. GBVSS partners reached 10,610 refugees including 5,912 females with awareness messaging on GBV during the COVID 19 pandemic to promote access of survivors to specialized case management services and to encourage the disclosure of incidents.
Cox's Bazar municipality is still experiencing high rates of COVID 19. As of 29 July, Cox's Bazar had 3,290 cases in the host community. In the camps, there were 71 confirmed cases and six deaths.
• Cash injections to Rohingya. To stimulate buying power and maintain economic solvency, it is important that assistance be provided to get money directly into the hands of households.
In July, WFP assisted nearly 30,000 pregnant and nursing women and 30,000 children under five in the camps and in the host community through the malnutrition prevention and treatment programmes.
WFP implemented the malnutrition treatment programme across all 45 nutrition sites in the camps and 106 sites in the host community. The prevention programme continued to be implemented in the camps through GFA sites.
WFP distributed BDT 12.8 million  ( USD 151,800 )  to 11,245 beneficiaries and 290 volunteers through the self reliance programme in July. 13 volunteers skilled in Communications with Communities  ( CwC )  worked in GFA outlets to disseminate COVID 19 messaging among the Rohingya population.
In the first three months of 2020, 12 training sessions were conducted, featuring different topics on CPP capacity building. A total of 354 CPP volunteers  ( 231 males and 123 females )  have increased their knowledge and skills on disaster preparedness. However, the yearly Plan of Action for 2020 was interrupted by the COVID 19 global pandemic resulting in an outbreak in Cox's Bazar district including the camp settlement.
The Logistics Sector in partnership with Humanity & Inclusion  Atlas Logistique  ( HI Atlas )  transported 3072 m3  ( 488 mt )  of relief items for 13 organisations including UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs, where 207 trucks were used.
The Cox's Bazar COVID 19 special hub received 10,000 protective gowns from China on behalf of the World Food Programme  ( WFP )  that were donated by the Join Together Society in Korea using the WFP Global Aviation Service for the COVID 19 response in Cox's Bazar
The Logistic Sector loaned a 22 KVA generator to the International Rescue Committee  ( IRC )  in Shamlapur, Camp 23 and a 15 KVA generator was loaned to Save the Children  ( SCI )  in Camp 21. Both generators were loaned to support the Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Isolation and Treatment Centres  ( SARI ITCs ) . • Two 10x24m MSUs, two 2.2KVA generators and one 15KVA generator were prepositioned in Balukhali Logistics hub for Monsoon preparedness.
The Logistics Sector's received Relief International to visit the Madhuchara Logistics hub for the hub management overview and trained their staff with good hub practices. • A total of 50 litres of hand sanitiser was distributed to one organisation to facilitate office hygiene and staff wellbeing
In July, 630 m3  ( 318 mt )  of relief items were received into common storage on behalf of six organisations making it a total of 4045 m3 of relief items stored on behalf of 15 organisations in Madhu Chara, Balukhali, Unchiprang, Teknaf and COVID 19 Special Hub in Cox's Bazar district. Items stored included oxygen, PPE items  ( gowns and surgical masks ) . Also, HI Atlas transported 3072m3  ( 488 mt )  of relief items for 13 organisations.
Mobile data and internet have been cut off for Rohingya refugees, which means people have very limited access to information about the coronavirus and its devastating consequences.
In addition to the COVID threat, routine vaccinations for children under two have dropped in the camps over the past three months – because families are reluctant to come to health facilities – and this puts children at risk of being infected with diseases such as measles, diphtheria, tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, pneumonia.
8,500 pieces of Disposable Isolation Gowns from the donation made by Join Together Society  ( JTS )  in South Korea have been handed over to the Health Sector for use in Isolation and Treatment Centres in the camps. The gowns have been distributed to the Health Sector partners.
Save the Children has also set up a COVID 19 isolation and treatment centre to provide care for suspected and confirmed COVID patients from the Rohingya and host communities. And our teams of community health workers are helping families to care for mild cases in their homes.
The Logistics Sector supported Hope Foundation hospital with heavy machinery crane and flat belt to move two of their containers to the camp hospital. • Logistics Sector received six solar direct drive vaccine refrigerator from Copenhagen for cold storage of vaccines and medicine requiring cold storage. The refrigerators are in the process of customs clearance in Dhaka airport. The refrigerators will be placed in the Logistics Sector hubs in Madhu Chara and Cox's Bazar for common storage services and can be loaned out to the Severe Acute Respiratory Infection  ( SARI )  Isolation and Treatment Centres  ( SARI ITCs )  upon request.
Through enhanced community based surveillance, community health workers  ( CHWs )  continue to assist people in identifying COVID 19 symptoms. In the past week, 1492 patients with mild symptoms of respiratory tract infections and five patients with moderate COVID like symptoms were identified during 90 730household visits. Of these, in total 883 patients were referred to health facilities.
In August, 987 m3  ( 348 mt )  of relief items were received into common storage on behalf of seven organisations making it a total of 4312 m3 of relief items stored on behalf of 14 organisations in Madhu Chara, Balukhali, Unchiprang, Teknaf and COVID 19 Special Hub in Cox's Bazar district. Items stored include oxygen, PPE items  ( gowns and surgical masks ) . Also, HI Atlas transported 3441 m3 of relief items for 15 organisations.
Cox's Bazar COVID Special Hub received a donation of 10,000 medical gowns from an international NGO, as well as a delivery of 85m3 of relief items consisting of sleeping mats and rope. A forklift is now available in Cox's Bazar COVID Special Hub for heavy duty cargo operations.
States should be clear that in order to mitigate economic downturn and ensure aid effectively, it is imperative the provision of aid coincides with the implementation of measures to provide internet access for the Rohingya and to end the bans of 3G and 4G internet. Public diplomacy channels should also be exploited to apply moral pressure on governments to lift the internet blockade.
Immunizations. There is a major risk that malaria, cholera and the measles will be compounded as a result of pauses to routine vaccinations. Immunizations should be scaled up to account for the growing need.
[ 18th March 2021, Bangladesh ]  Bangladesh on Thursday administered the Covid 19 vaccine to over 100,000 people. With 58,970 men and 48,463 women receiving their first shot of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, total 107,433 people were inoculated today and none of them experienced any adverse events.
[ October 2020, Bangladesh ]  There is an increase in forced/child marriage, a halt in education and livelihood services, reduced access to women and girls' spaces, and a lower presence of camp authorities. Children and adolescents are likely to experience negative impacts on their mental health due to the loss of educational opportunities. There is increased stigma against transgender persons who due to existing social discrimination and a tendency to blame perceived outsiders for spreading the virus.
• Provide a platform for the Rohingya: In both public and private fora, the international community should make it a priority to highlight and amplify Rohingya voices. Rohingya should be invited to address the UN Security Council, European Union, ASEAN, and other multilateral institutions.
Push for political inclusion: National Elections are currently scheduled for 8 November 2020 and there is a high risk that the Rohingya will be disenfranchised. As the international community supports Myanmar in its efforts to ensure an inclusive response to COVID19, it should push simultaneously for an inclusive electoral process. Countries that provide electoral support should condition this assistance on the execution of an inclusive electoral process, making clear that a democratic process that excludes one segment of the population is inherently anti democratic and sets a dangerous precedent for future exclusion of ethnic and religious minorities.
WHO continues its support to the Field Laboratory of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research  ( IEDCR )  in the Cox's Bazar Medical College comprising human resources, equipment, supplies/consumables and technical and operational expertise. From early April until 09 August 2020, a total of 28 759 laboratory tests for COVID 19 have been conducted in the laboratory, of which 23 770 from Cox's Bazar district. The remainder are from Bandarban and Chittagong districts.
As States push for Rohingya consultation, they should simultaneously demonstrate their own commitments to inclusion by increasing support for Rohingya led organizations and providing a platform for the Rohingya to speak directly about the issues that matter to them, including at the UN Security Council and other key multilateral fora.
• Support women and girls: Women and girls comprise the majority of the Rohingya population in refugee camps and they are increasingly leaders within their own communities. As challenges afflicting the refugee population grow, there is a risk that the gains women have made will be lost, making them increasing vulnerable to revictimization, sexual and gender based violence and human trafficking.It is imperative therefore that the international community focus its assistance towards women and girls, and ensure all aspects of development and political aid to the Rohingya communities are designed to be gender sensitive.
[ October 2020, Bangladesh ]  Gender norms and roles create differences in maintaining preventative measures and women and girls, men and boys, are at risk of exposure to COVID 19 in different ways.
Rohingya and Bangladeshi volunteers are making crucial contributions as community health workers, supporting the medical response in COVID 19 treatment facilities, which serve both communities, and conducting community based surveillance and contact tracingMore than 3,000 refugee volunteers have been trained to conduct awareness sessions aimed at giving people the information they need to protect themselves from COVID 19 and connect them to critical services.
Fund education: Aid should be targeted to support education interventions to ensure pauses in education do not have life long consequences for Rohingya youths. While Bangladesh has recently approved education in Burmese for Rohingya children up to age 14, accreditation of that Burmese curriculum remains a concern.To that end, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization  ( UNESCO )  can be called upon to accredit relevant certifications.
COVID 19 sample testing capacity has been maintained at 1500 test per day at IEDCR Field Laboratory in Cox's Bazar Medical College during the week.
Over the past three years, Rohingya refugees and humanitarian responders have met many challenges, facing heavy monsoon periods and the impacts of cyclones, seeking to reverse deforestation and other environmental degradation in and around the refugee camps, and responding to outbreaks of communicable diseases. The Government and humanitarian partners are now facing together the unprecedented challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic, a critical health emergency that is compounded by the crowded living conditions in the refugee camps.
The 2020 JRP, which includes new needs arising from the COVID 19 pandemic and totals more than US$1 billion, is one of the largest humanitarian appeals worldwide this year. So far, funding commitments have met only 44 percent of the total requirements, creating a risk that critical assistance and services will not reach the people who need it.
Expand essential services: Likewise, multilateral institutions and States should work to ease the restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid delivery. States should urge Bangladesh to broaden its description of ‘essential services' and insist that Myanmar outline the services deemed essential.As part of this, donors should make  ( elements of )  humanitarian aid delivered nationally conditional on the expansion of essential services. All economic conditions should be designed to mitigate economic downturn and ensure aid effectiveness. Donors might also incentivize the expansion of services by promising further support in other areas if and when key concerns are addressed
[ October 2020, Bangladesh ]  Difficulty accessing WASH services has increased amongst Rohingya refugees due to a lack of water storage systems and containers, distance, wait times at water points, and delays in WASH services. Women and girls face issues of overcrowding and lack of privacy when using latrines during the day, while at night they risk of harassment and violence due to inadequate lighting.
Eighteen healthcare workers were trained on Infection Prevention and Control at Moheshakali Upazila Health Complex as part of WHO support to all Upazilas in Cox's Bazar. To date, 102 humanitarian workers from five Upazilas, including Ukhia, Teknaf, Ramu and Chokoria have been trained.
Apart from the current need to achieve justice and accountability, the international community as well as Rohingya themselves, should be positioned so as to envision lives and livelihood that extend beyond genocide and mass atrocity. International assistance should be geared not only to helping Rohingya survive, but rather, to thrive and reintegrate back into Myanmar as contributing members of the society. Given the COVID 19 context, training in healthcare such as nursing would impart skills that would contribute sustainably to the pandemic response while encouraging independence and self reliance upon a voluntary return to Myanmar.
Technical support at the IEDCR Field Laboratory in Cox's Bazar Medical College is ongoing, including provision of extension and backup power. WHO supported the transport of test kit supplies from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar. WHO distributed NCD kits to different health facilities in the Rohingya refugee camps 10, 12, 18 and 22.
As a part of WHO support to all upazilas in Cox's Bazar, 21 healthcare workers completed trainings in Clinical Case Management of COVID  19 at Moheshakali UHC. A total of 104 Healthcare workers have been trained covering five Upazila Health complexes also including Ukhia, Teknaf, Ramu andChokoria.
A total of 22 healthcare workers including doctors, nurses and counsellors completed a 4 days Mental Health Gap Action Programme  ( mhGAP )  training in support to MHPSS during COVID 19 care for patients and humanitarian workers.
WFP has also activated the rapid response activity while maintaining COVID 19 precautionary measures at all distribution points, providing high energy biscuits, one off dry food rations and cooked meals to the displaced households.
860,356 refugees in the camps*  ( 51% children, 45% adult, 4% older persons and 1% persons with disability ) . WFP continues to provide blanket , food assistance to 100 percent of the refugee population though evoucher  ( 87 percent )  and in kind  ( 13 percent )  modalities for food assistance
[ October 2020, Bangladesh ]  MHM has become more difficult during the pandemic due to delays in distribution of materials and increased difficulty for women and girls to wash and dry their menstrual cloths due to taboos around menstruation, resulting in increased risk of infection.
In June, WFP served 578 households with one off general food distribution and high energy biscuits as well as provided 4,620 hot meals through Rapid Response Assistance
The World Bank is contributing an additional USD 2 transfer to support the nutritional response to COVID 19 for over 700,000 refugees in the camps, beginning in June and lasting for four months.
In collaboration with Cooperating Partners BRAC and Action Aid, WFP continues mask production in eight skills development centres with 95 refugee women and they have produced 92,000 masks. In addition, WFP also engaged 34 livelihoods programme beneficiaries from the host community in mask production to distribute among local members in collaboration with the local government
WFP continues to support the most vulnerable host community population under its Special Support to Host Community  ( SSHC )  programme. Over 500,000 individuals are targeted in three phases under SSHC programme. As of the end of June, WFP supported over 80,000 unique households from Ukhiya, Teknaf, Ramu, Pekua, Moheskhali, Khutubdia, Cox's Bazar town and Chakoria subdistricts.
[ October 2020, Bangladesh ]  COVID 19 prevention and response activities, community engagement and messaging must be designed to mitigate and take into account gender issues, in line with sector and working group specific recommendations outlined in this report.
Livestock trade was significantly impacted, with demand for livestock products being atypically low. Farmers and traders stand to lose more with Eid alAdha festivals coming up, as it is the peak season for livestock business in the country.
Under phase two, WFP aims to support the most vulnerable population in Ukhiya and Teknaf with a oneoff cash and variable in kind food distribution. By the end of June, WFP reached 23,721 households of the livelihoods programme with a cash distribution of 4,500 BDT  ( USD 53 )  and a special support package, including 5 kgs of high energy biscuits per person plus 27 kg of yellow split peas and 6 litres of oil per household. Cash distribution was completed in Ukhiya and Teknaf in June, and food distributions are to be completed in early July.
Under phase three, WFP aims to provide support to the most vulnerable population in the other subdistricts of Cox's Bazar district with a one off cash and variable inkind food distribution. In kind food distributions reached 52,041 households as of the end of June.
In June, WFP conducted market monitoring to assess concerns related to the market retail price condition in Cox's Bazar. Mixed price trends were observed across the markets. Prices of rice, red lentils, chicken peas, vegetable oil and onions prices remained stable or declined, but chicken and egg prices considerably increased
Food availability in the markets remained stable, but affordability continued to be the biggest problem: purchasing power dropped by an average of 42 percent in June compared to pre crisis period. The drop was much higher for daily wage labourers at 73 percent
Due to income drops, a shift in dietary patterns was observed with many households opting for less preferred or cheaper food with low nutritional value
Local camp markets are experiencing increased demand for fresh foods, but supply levels remained low hence prices have risen. This follows suspension of WFP's fresh food corners and Farmers' Market due to COVID 19.
WFP has opened 16 new nutrition centres under Improving Maternal and Child Nutrition  ( IMCN )  programme in Pekua subdistrict. WFP currently has 116 nutrition centres operational in the host community.
Due to acute shortage of food, pure drinking water and poor sanitation system, there is a possibility of communicable disease outbreak when flood water will start receding; there is potential threat that COVID 19 can spread very fast among the people staying in the flood shelters.
Approximately 93% sanitation facilities are disrupted in the affected sub district. 81,179 latrines are damaged and destroyed; 73, 343 tube wells were damaged and destroyed. Handwashing facilities are scarce, and as a result, maintaining safe hygiene practices and COVID 19 infection prevention and control is hampered.
The Monsoon flood has damaged the community and household infrastructures severely and caused further harm to the lives and livelihoods of the people which was already constrained by the impact of COVID19 pandemic
Needs and Priorities at the time of COVID19 pandemic: Provide multi purpose cash grant to the most affected poor households  ( i.e. female headed households, households having person with disability, households having 5 dependents but no income etc. )  to maintain immediate family needs. Create Cash for Work for repairing household and community level life saving infrastructures  (  cross drainage, embankments, roads etc. )
Needs and Priorities at the time of COVID19 pandemic: • Provide start up grant to the small holder business households  ( especially women run businesses )  to take charge of their own families • Psychosocial services/counseling for the individuals/families who lost family members or lost income generating opportunities • Technical support to authorities and community to support build back better the flood protection and basic social infrastructure, to make it more resilient in the future.
Support the market distribution system, supply chain and value chain considering the disruption caused by the flood under the pandemic of COVID 19.
Learning at home in the context of COVID 19 is severely affected as children are unable to access the remote learning  ( TV as well as other platforms ) .
• There is potential that COVID 19 can spread very fast among the people staying in the flood shelters.
• Strengthen health education activities in the flood affected areas particularly on personal hygiene and physical distancing while ensuring these services are accessible to different types of persons with disabilities.
Lack of maternal and childcare services due to monsoon flood and COVID19 both which will led increased child and maternal mortality due to malnutrition.
People has lost their usual living space and hence the current living condition is not sufficient to maintain reasonable social distance considering Covid 19 pandemic. Due to damages of shelters; many are living together. It increasing the risk of Covid 19 spreading.
93% of respondents reported they would visit an NGO clinic if they or someone in their household developed symptoms.
Livelihood is extremely disrupted which reduced income & employment drastically. More than 93% of the people's livelihood have been badly hit. The recurrent prolonged flood escalated the ongoing COVID 19 impact. Among them small & marginal farmers, agriculture day labor, non agriculture day labour & medium to big farmers are the worse affected
Priorities addressing children and women needs including needs of children and women with disabilities needs should also be given to:Coordinating and monitoring communities interventions in the most affected areas, as well as those with heightened COVID 19 cases  ( in coordination with the health cluster ) .
The affected population remained in life threatening situations in most of the affected locations and are in dire need of food and livelihood opportunities. As a result, at the moment they don't have any buying capacity of purchasing essential life saving food and non food items. With the effect of COVID 19 led crisis, now this is disaster within the disaster. This has led the affected households to adopt negative coping mechanism endangering life.
Due to the impact of Covid 19 pandemic, HH coping mechanism was already challenged and the severe damage of recurrent flood have clearly destroyed their resilience. The assessment revealed the extent of negative coping mechanism adopted in the flood affected districts. Humanitarian assistance are needed.
Red Zone restriction has been removed in Cox's Bazar municipality. The municipality was previously declared a Red Zone area due to the higher rate of COVID 19 cases. So far, Cox's Bazar has nearly 3,000 confirmed cases of COVID 19 in the host community. In the refugee camps, there have been 54 confirmed cases and five deaths. The Government of Bangladesh and humanitarian organizations are synchronizing efforts to increase testing capacity in Cox's Bazar.
In June, WFP assisted 25,700 pregnant and nursing women and 180,300 children under five in the refugee camps and in the host community under the malnutrition prevention and treatment programmes.
In the host community, WFP is continuing door todoor distributions of high energy biscuits to students by maintaining all safety guidelines. The first round of biscuit distribution was completed, and 134,400 students received biscuits. The second round of distribution will start from mid July.
Approximately 838,100 individuals, including 486,600 in the refugee camps and 351,500 in the host communities, have received a total of 1,676,200 reusable cloth masks, as of 27 August.
Sectoral Priority Response and Recovery: Support the market distribution system, supply chain and value chain considering the disruption caused by the flood under the pandemic of COVID 19.
It should be noted here that, since the beginning of the COVID 19 outbreak in March there has been significant increase of rice, lentil and potato prices. Given that along with the general annual inflation rate of food commodities around 6%  ( BBS CPI ) , it is still hard to attribute these changes to the ongoing floods entirely. However, these fluctuations are likely to be further affected if the flood continues as well as due to the Eid  ( during which prices of daily commodities usually rise ) , including due to a reduction in food imports due to international trade restrictions  ( especially for lentil of which a major portion is still being imported )  – adversely affecting the affordability of the poor to purchase and consume a balanced diet.
Heavy monsoon floods in the northern parts of Bangladesh have caused substantial damage and suffering across many districts. Flood damage, prolonged inundation together with COVID 19 distress has severe and disproportionate impact on the safety and security, i.e.  protection of women, adolescent girls and other marginalized groups. Demographic data is showing out of the affected people, around 1.47 million are women, almost 50,000 pregnant mothers, and that 160,000 are adolescent girls and children aged 5 18. Loss of houses, livelihoods, restricted mobility, lack of privacy, disrupted services and inaccessibility   weaken protection measures and resilience of individuals
[ 14th Jan 2021, Bangladesh ]  In Satkhira and Kurigram, parents from disaster prone areas are now more concerned about their daughters' safety. They say that although they need to migrate to cities to find work opportunities, they can't do so because they can't leave their daughters behind, especially because their daughters are not in school. Left on their own, their daughters might be harassed. Thus, parents marry off their daughters in order to keep them ‘safe' and so they can migrate to find work.
COVID 19 testing of refugees continued to increase: 1,127 refugees were tested, compared to 878 in the previous week. In host communities, testing decreased with 356 tests conducted, compared to 490 in the previous week, which may be due to testing fees introduced by the Government in July.
WASH Sector partners reached 302,585 individuals through a neighbourhoodbased approach and 107,093 individuals through mass media with COVID 19 awareness messages in host and Rohingya communities.
As part of COVID 19 risk prevention measures and IPC compliance in the host communities and camps, WASH Sector partners disinfected 58,866 WASH facilities and 3,251 public buildings.
[ 1st Jan  31st Dec, 2020, Bangladesh ]  There have been 367 COVID 19 cases confirmed in the camps and 10 people have died
This past year has been on one of remarkable achievement in our work with both the refugees and vulnerable Bangladeshi host communities. I would like to commend our outstanding, dedicated team of more than 600 full time response staff, 1,100 field facilitators and volunteers. They have consistently delivered quality, life sustaining assistance despite unprecedented challenges, including the COVID 19 crisis.
Food assistance: In partnership with WFP, we distributed food rations to 10,176 refugee households monthly, and managed WFP food stores where 217,999 refugees exchange e vouchers each month. We also successfully completed the first phase of a two year
SUBJECT IN FOCUS: Provision of essential health services in the context of COVID 19 in Cox's Bazar :The Health Sector worked with the Community Health Working Group and UNFPA to translate and produce 1600 Bangla and Burmese SRH flipcharts for use by CHWs in the camps.
[ 20th October 2020, Bangladesh ]  Bangladesh on Tuesday saw another spike in Covid 19 cases as the health authorities of the country confirmed the detection of 1,380 new cases in 24 hours, taking the caseload to 3,91,586. During the period, 18 more patients died from Covid 19, pushing up the death toll to 5,699.
Sectoral Priorities Response and Recovery: Multipurpose dignity kits, for mitigating GBV risks and complemented with selected COVID19 IPC items for women of reproductive age, elderly women, adolescent girls, sex workers, and other gender diverse group.
Moreover, without access to learning facilities – and in isolation – there is little scope to provide clear communication messaging, psychosocial support to both students and educators, as well as meet their social emotional learning needs or provide life skills education.
USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance programme to improve the food security and nutrition of 74,736 Rohingya refugees and 5,229 vulnerable host community members affected by the influx.
[ 20th October 2020, Bangladesh ]  Besides, 1,542 patients recovered from the disease, and the total recoveries from coronavirus infection have jumped up to 307,141. The fatality rate in Bangladesh is still 1.46 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services  ( DGHS )  said.
Since February 2020, a shift was made toa preparedness and responseeffort for COVID 19. The first case in Cox's Bazar District was identified by laboratory confirmation on March 23rd. There was a marked decrease in clinical service utilization, and facility based deliveries with a skilled provider dropped from a high of 1500 per month reported in 2019, to 711 in April of 2020. In May and June, the numbers increased to just slightly over 1000  ( 1005, and 1008 respectively ) , indicating a shift in perception, or acceptance of the presence of COVID 19in the camps. However, the numbers have not yet reached pre COVID levels which can ultimately impact the rate of obstetric complications and maternal mortalities.
[ 20th October 2020, Bangladesh ]  Bangladesh is seeing 2,299.3 infections, 1803.46 recoveries and 33.46 deaths per million. Currently, there are 78,746 active cases in the country. Of the total victims, 4,385 are men and 1,314 are women. Of the latest 18 victims, 16 are aged above 50 years and two others are aged between 41 and 50 years.
On 24th March 2020, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner  ( RRRC )   ( based in Cox's Bazar )  released a statement defining the essential and critical activities in all 34 camps in Cox's Bazar for COVID19. The statement defined education as a non essential activity. This resulted in severely restricted access for UN and NGO staff and the closure of learning facilities. This closure means that the education sector closed nearly 6,000 education facilities across the camps for the foreseeable future, disrupting learning of over 325,000 children  ( of which, 49 per cent are girls and adolescents aged 3 to   24 years ) , and cutting off their access to education. These students are missing vital learning opportunities and have had their social support systems further disrupted.
[ 20th October 2020, Bangladesh ]  The daily infection rate on Tuesday was recorded 10.14 percent upon testing 13,611 samples in 24 hours. 17.86 percent of the tested 21,92,325 samples have so far turned out to be Covid 19 positive. The recovery rate has climbed to 78.44 percent in Bangladesh, health authorities said.
[ 20th October 2020, Bangladesh ]  So far, 2,920 people have died in Dhaka division, 1,141 in Chattogram, 365 in Rajshahi, 458 in Khulna, 197 in Barishal, 240 in Sylhet, 259 in Rangpur and 119 in Mymensingh. Across the country, 12,224 people are now in isolation and 39,826 in quarantine.
Nutrition services for children and women became extremely challenged due to the dual impact of monsoon flood and COVID 19. Breastfeeding is strongly hampered due to housing damage and displacement. Disruption of essential nutrition services leads to deteriorate wasting status which may increase the caseload of SAM.
Early recovery activities: Advocating for hospitals, health facilities, midwives and HCW to provide evidence based care and prioritizing women of reproductive age, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and adolescents and youths. Ensuring separate areas in health facilities for COVID positive and non positive patients seeking SRH care.
18 instructors from the education sector were trained to give information to community members on general hygiene, mask wearing, selfcare, isolation, quarantine and testing. All have been provided with a COVID 19 flipchart for teaching.
The learning facility closures, also mean that the over 3,300  ( 81 per cent female )  hostcommunity teachers do not have access to the camps, and, like their refugee teacher colleagues, they may be required to gain additional knowledge and skills to support distance learning. The crisis also disproportionately affects all opportunities for professional development and learning.
Shelter/NFI Sector partners distributed NFI packages  ( including blankets, floor mats, mosquito nets, tarpaulins, rope and solar lamps )  to 197 households with older persons who were newly identified after completion of the distribution exercise last week. During the week, 150 NFI kits were provided to quarantine centres, including 30 NFI kits in Nayapara and 120 in Camp 20 Extension
Online platforms for customized professional development opportunities are nearly absent and the current teaching force lacks the necessary IT literacy, skills and attitudes  ( confidence, competence, agility )  to continue self learning to equip themselves with the new skills needed for remote teaching. Teachers may also require support to access technology such as hardware, internet connections and digital learning portals to support online learning.
Protection Sector partners including Protection Focal Points  ( PFP )  and Protection Emergency Response Units  ( PERU )  reached 11,779 refugees with COVID 19 messaging. Rohingya Community Outreach Members conducted 423 household visits and 111 monitoring assessments for 1,837 refugees, and conducted 878 COVID 19 awareness sessions, reaching 3,383 refugees including 531 older persons and 48 persons with disabilities.
The Bangladeshi teachers are better placed than their refugee counterparts to access e learning, but even these online professional development opportunities have yet to be developed and tailored to their needs. At this stage, education partners will continue to pay all teacher salaries but the challenge for education partners is on how to continue the active engagement of teachers due to restrictive measures.
CwC WG partners organized 11 cascade training sessions on COVID 19 with 90 staff and volunteers. CwC WG partners reached 236,198 people in the camps and host communities with key COVID 19 messages through community engagement activities, including 41,315 neighbourhood based sessions; 11,687 community consultation meetings; 581 listening group sessions; 420 video/film viewings; and 9,891 sessions led by religious leaders.
Teachers, parents and caregivers lack the tools and strategies to home school their children without structured guidance, while also ensuring children's safety, security, and physicalmental wellbeing. Rohingya caregivers/parents, mostly with low educational attainment, do not have experience in distance schooling, and will struggle to support their children's learning. Additionally, the mental and psychological wellbeing of children during this stressful time will be compromised.
To promote inclusive planning and equal access to services, the Age and Disability Working Group, together with CPSS, provided a session on disability and child protection programming during the COVID 19 pandemic to partners. CPSS also trained CP Focal Points and Case Managers on 21 key child protection messages for children and caregivers. GBVSS partners reached 1,635 refugees with audio messages on prevention against sexual exploitiation and abuse  ( PSEA ) , and conducted a PSEA online session for 79 humanitarian workers
Without access to their usual peer networks or community based learning opportunities, girls will become more vulnerable to exclusion more isolated and more susceptible to gender based violence, and child labour for boys. Children are especially the most at risk group to be affected by increased levels of domestic violence as caregivers and parents are staying home for prolonged hours and tensions build up, exacerbating the existing problems in overcrowded camps. Children who experience learning and/or physical challenges will face additional difficulties through further lack of support, frustration at home, and the discontinuation of positive outlets.