In the sprawling camps for the displaced of Sudan’s Darfur, officials say people are falling sick and dying at astonishing rates.
COVID-19 infections linked to Asia’s largest food market include 45 new coronavirus cases.CAIRO -- In the sprawling camps for the displaced of Darfur, the war-scarred western region of Sudan, officials say the elderly are falling sick and dying at astonishing rates.
Nationwide, Sudan has reported 6,879 coronavirus infections and 433 deaths, according to the Health Ministry. Of those, 193 cases and 54 fatalities have been confirmed across Darfur — a figure experts believe is a vast undercount.officials have sounded the alarm that the coronavirus will take a disastrous toll on the world’s most vulnerable regions, particularly camps for the internally displaced and refugees, where social distancing, even hand-washing, prove impossible.
Sudan’s health care system is in disarray after years of war and sanctions. Dire shortages of protective equipment and staff nationwide prompted strikes by medical workers as infections rise in their ranks. A drastic undersupply of drugs and hard currency forces the sick to purchase essential medicine out of pocket. A lack of fuel has made it increasingly difficult for doctors and patients to reach hospitals.
Darfur, with a population of 9 million, has only around 600 health facilities, or one per 15,000 people. With facilities scattered over an area the size of Spain, residents in rural areas must travel long distances to reach one. Doctors say quarantine centers have no more than a few dozen beds, two or three ventilators and cheap gowns and surgical masks for protection equipment.
Some camps in the north saw 10 to 15 people a day dying the past week, compared to the normal rate of 5 to 10 a month, said Adam Regal, spokesman for a local organization that runs some camps.
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