SELF-REPORTED HEALTH STATUS, AND SEEKING HEALTH CARE The ApartTogether survey enquired about COVID‑19 symp‑ toms, testing, taking precautions, receiving information and seeking health care. Refugees and migrants also added their own personal experiences, which provide more infor‑ mation outlined in the boxes. Symptoms and testing Respondents were asked whether they thought they had or have had symptoms of COVID‑19, with 2595 (12%) saying that they currently suffered from symptoms they thought were linked to COVID‑19. A positive answer did not nec‑ essarily imply they were infected with the virus nor that they had the COVID‑19 disease. It merely indicated that they thought they currently had symptoms they attribut‑ ed to COVID‑19. The actual prevalence of COVID‑19 for the respondents to the survey or for the entire population of refugees and migrants could not be concluded from the answers to these questions. Respondents were also asked whether they had tested positive themselves or had someone close to them (survey categorized them as “a loved one”) who tested positive. Story of Mohib Mohib, a Rohingya refugee in his forties stays at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar District of Bangladesh, which is one of the world’s largest refugee camps. Mohib and his family left Rohingya State of Myanmar after their village was burnt. Many people were tortured and killed. Many women were raped, and children were stampeded to death. Mohib and his family members, along with several thousand men, women, children, toddlers and infants who had lived in their homes for years, fled their villages, crossed the perilous border and came to Bangladesh to save their lives. Mohib now runs a small business inside the Rohingya camp. He and his family members live on whatever he makes from the business and the inade‑ quate but important help they get from the camp. “Life was extremely hard here, but it became harder after the COVID‑19 outbreak,” Mohib says. “Thousands of Rohingyas stay in a small area. The first COVID‑19 positive case was identified in May and the first Ro‑ hingya in the camp died from COVID‑19 in June. The sale of my business has dropped significantly after the outbreak. My family and I passed some days without a full meal.” But Mohib praises the NGOs and the Bangladeshi Gov‑ ernment agencies for their help and mentioned that his family got timely medical services during COVID-19. Requests for physical distancing and masks are not followed properly. People roam around freely without masks or other protection. Mohib says: “Local NGOs used to provide us reminders about physical distanc‑ ing and national health guidelines provided by Bangla‑ deshi Government agencies, but now-a-days, the rate of publicity and awareness has decreased. We were so conscious of the corona situation that we used to wear masks and take other precautions. But now it is a total‑ ly different scenario. People’s consciousness decreased and we are leading quite a normal life.” He further says: “I am concerned that most of the people did not follow physical distancing and social gathering was quite a common scenario here. They were not interested in this “Corona Virus” topic. Though the health-care centre is open from 8am to 4pm, people here are not interested to get tested though they have symptoms.” Mohib goes on to say, “Lifestyle got changed. It’s getting impossible for us to sustain in this environment. I have a large fam‑ ily. With several children and we cannot maintain phys‑ ical distancing in this camp. I got sick in June, but isola‑ tion can���t be followed here. I didn’t go for the test cause if I get tested positive then I cannot run my business.” Self-reported health status, and seeking health care | 11