overreacted and talked about it so much, but it is clear now that it is nothing to
worry about. For me, it is clear that there is no truth to the Coronavirus despite
whatever has been said about its arrival in Bangladesh. We don't actually see
Coronavirus here. We have not been maintaining any social distance or other
preventative methods.
Here, some people who use masks exchange and rewear them in order to be safe
from the security forces, not from the virus. No one washes their hands once or
twice a day with any intention of preventing the virus. Even though the people are
not cognitively aware of its infection and dangers, nothing severe has appeared in
the camps. Perhaps the Coronavirus infected here, but it did not bring us any harm
or cause anyone to die. … It seems to me like the virus was invented just to divert
people’s attention to it. It was clearly created as a way to threaten the people,
nothing else.
Some camp residents, including an unlicensed health practitioner living in Camp 16,
believe the virus to be real, but expressed misunderstandings about its nature.
According to the respondent, Covid-19 resulted from influenza-related complications:
Regarding Coronavirus, it is a deadly virus that people should avoid. In camp,
there has been no confirmed Coronavirus case, but there is a disease namely
influenza. Influenza can cause Coronavirus by bleeding. The symptoms of
influenza include having a fever of more than 100 F, whole body pain, and then
after 14 days, it can cause cough and affects the glands on the side of the
neck. After infecting the glands, if the respective person is not taking treatment,
finally the normal influenza case progresses to become “bleeding influenza.” From
bleeding influenza, it is easy for someone to come down with Coronavirus.
Coronavirus means having a high fever of more than 100 F, body pain, cough, neck
pain, weakness and headache. To prevent Coronavirus, we have to stay away from
previously infected persons and those who have Hepatitis C, diabetes, and high
blood pressure.
It should be emphasized that this unlicensed practitioner is in the position of actively
providing medical advice and treatment to possible Covid-19 patients. Given this, there
is evidently still a need for better, more clear and concrete, information about the virus
to be shared with camp residents. A challenge that arises in this respect is the fact that
unlicensed health practitioners tend to operate in the shadows and outside of formal
regulations. The situation of these doctors will be examined more detail in Section 4
below (‘Perceptions of Medical Clinics and Hospitals’).
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