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Rohingya refugee dies of COVID-19 amid lack of access to vaccines
The refugee population appears to have been excluded from ongoing COVID-19 vaccination schemes.
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Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel supervise the relocation of Rohingya refugees from Simpang Ulim district, East Aceh regency, Aceh, to Medan, North Sumatra, on June 9. (Antara/Hayaturrahmah)
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Rohingya refugee died in Medan, North Sumatra, on Sunday, after being rushed to the hospital with severe symptoms of COVID-19.
Eshak Mohammad, 64, passed away at the University of North Sumatra (USU) hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for two days.
He was the first Rohingya refugee in Indonesia to die from the disease since the pandemic started, having spent the last nine years of his life in the Hotel Pelangi shelter in Medan without any family or next of kin.
Two officials confirmed his death on Sunday.
Vincentius Purwo Hendratmoko, the head of the Medan immigration detention center, revealed upon confirming Eshak's death that he had been buried at a local cemetery.
“[Eshak] died at 5 p.m. local time. His body was laid to rest at the COVID-19 burial ground in Simalingkar [in Medan],” Vincentius told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
A spokesman for the Medan COVID-19 task force, Mardohar Tambunan, also acknowledged that a Rohingya refugee had died of COVID-19 and that task force officials had observed the 3Ts of testing, tracing and treatment in handling the case.
