Bangladesh: Covid 19 and Sajek Measles Outbreak – Briefing Note (31 March 2020)
Measles Outbreak Amidst Pandemic COVID-19
Bangladesh has been in a countrywide lockdown since 26 March which will extend for two weeks due to COVID-19. As communication is restricted, there is a greater need to consider upcoming issues which could lead to a larger crisis. Thus, an alert was raised for a Measles outbreak in the Chittagong Hill tracts (CHT) South-east region, amidst the ongoing COVID-19 responses. An amount of £335,756 has been allocated for COVID-19, with an additional £20,000 for the area of Sajek in the CHT, to address the Measles outbreak. This multi-agency coordination and collaborative set of interventions are much needed at this time, to address these issues parallelly. This alert covers 13 districts – Sylhet, Jessore, Khulna, Shatkhira, Bagerhat, Barisal, Barguna, Shariatpur, Madaripur, Faridpur, Gaibandha, Rangamati and Bandarban.
Limitations – A measles outbreak during a pandemic, implies an increased requirement of medical assistant. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to do more tests in order to fully understand the effects of COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh, getting an idea of its mortality rate, mode and stage of transmission.
About Start Fund Bangladesh: Start Fund Bangladesh is an emergency pooled fund, funded by UK Aid and managed by 47 international, national, and local NGOs of Bangladesh. The aim of this fund is to rapidly respond to small and medium scale emergencies, that are under the radar and under-funded.
