COVID-19: Turkish Diyanet Foundation helps Rohingya

ANKARA

Turkey’s Diyanet Foundation (TDV) has launched awareness campaign to mitigate the spread of coronavirus pandemic, and provided aid for the persecuted Rohingya community in refugee camps in southeastern Bangladeshi district of Cox's Bazar.

The foundation has distributed hand sanitizers and detergents among the refugees besides raising public awareness to fight COVID-19 which has killed over 53,100 people globally, it said in a statement on Thursday.

“[TDV] distributed hand sanitizers and detergents among the 300 poor families of Baharchar along the Sagar border with the help of local youth community,” said Mehmet Fatih Altas, Cox's Bazar field coordinator of the foundation, in the statement.

He said the volunteers of the foundation campaigned among the Rohingya to stay at home while maintaining social distance to stem the spread of the pandemic.

The members of the persecuted community were taught “how to wash hands and face” to protect from the virus, the statement added.

Cox's Bazar is hosting more than 1 million Rohingya refugees who fled their homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar following the brutal military campaign against the Muslim minority community in 2017.

Global situation

After originating in Wuhan, China last December, the virus has spread to at least 181 countries and regions across the world, with its epicenter shifting to Europe, while China has largely come out of the crisis.

The virus infected over 1 million (1,016,534) people worldwide, and the global death toll surpassed 53,100, while more than 211,800 people recovered from the disease, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Despite the rising number of cases, most people who get infected suffer only mild symptoms and make a recovery.