Uganda
and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) have placed one of the largest
refugee camps in Africa, Kyangwali, under lockdown after a jump in confirmed
cases of the coronavirus. The refugees there say they are feeling the pinch.
Kyangwali, in southwestern Uganda, is home to more
than 120,000 refugees. The lockdown is due to a rising number of coronavirus
cases among both aid workers and refugees.
Rebecca Noel, a Congolese national and mother of
two, has lived at the settlement in Kikuube district for 11 years. To
supplement the monthly $6 cash for food money given to her and others by the
World Food Program, Noel says she does casual labor and trades in shoes and
clothes. With little food to put on the table, Noel says she too could be at
risk of contracting the coronavirus.
“Life is hard. Because we are under a
lockdown and we cannot leave,” Noel said. “We may get corona because when you
and the children get hungry – as an adult you could persevere, but when the
child cries you just have to get out and find food so the children don’t starve
and die.”
According to a statement by the Ugandan government
and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, 40 refugees and humanitarian workers
at Kyangwali have tested positive for the virus that causes the COVID-19
disease, and two refugees have died.
Musa Ecweru, Uganda’s state minister for refugees,
says with the rising numbers, the settlement dwellers have to manage amid the
circumstances.
“There have been cases of COVID-19 patients there,
including a death. They are in Uganda and all the operating procedures that are
given by the minister of health apply to all people who reside in this
jurisdiction called Uganda. There are certainly going to be difficulties. There
are certainly going to be inconveniences but it’s for their own good,” Ecweru
said.
Uganda currently has 2,928 cases with 30 deaths,
according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the infection across
the globe.
Yonna Tukundane, the UNHCR social media associate
in Uganda, says more than 600,000 face masks have been already produced by
refugee tailors and distributed to the communities.
“Critical and lifesaving activities continue to
take place in the settlement to provide assistance to the most vulnerable. We
began local procurement of an additional 860,000 reusable face masks for
immediate distribution to refugees across the country, especially in
Kyangwali,” Tukundane said.
The infections come as the World Food Program
warns of further food ration cuts for refugees in east Africa. In Uganda, the
WFP says, to provide full rations for 1.2 million refugees in the settlements
from now until the end of the year, it needs $47.4 million immediately.