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Chad

Chad: Quick Alerts - 22 January 2021

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HEALTH SITUATION

COVID-19 update

As of 20 January, there have been 3,065 reported cases and 114 deaths in 17 provinces. Between 17 and 20 January, 170 new cases were reported in five different provinces and in N’Djamena: in Mayo Kebbi ouest, Guera, Sila, Kanem and Batha. Most new cases are contact cases and travelers. The Health Crisis Management Committee recommended lifting the confinement of N’Djamena, stating that “we need to learn to live with the virus”. President Deby signed a decree on 21 January to that effect, hereby allowing the “resumption of formerly restricted activities in the strict respect of health protocols”. Curfew is maintained from 8pm until 5am at least until 27 January. (Government of Chad, WHO situational reports and press)

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

N’Djamena

Food distribution ongoing for thousands of vulnerable people affected by COVID-19 restrictions: Food distribution in N’Djamena for the most vulnerable impacted by the confinement is ongoing. After the launch of the first distribution of 500 kits on 10 January, which had targeted more than 30,000 inhabitants of N’Djamena across all 10 arrondissements, a second phase was carried out on 17 January in four arrondissements of the city (1, 2, 4 and 6), targeting 500 households in each arrondissement. Food stocks come from the National office of food security (ONASA) and distribution kits include a 10L oil can, 25kg of beans, 10kg of sugar and bags of cereal. The kits are meant to provide relief to the most vulnerable during these difficult times of confinement and COVID-19 preventive measures. (press)

DISPLACEMENTS

Logone oriental

Thousands flee CAR in urgent need of humanitarian aid: Following incidents in the Central African Republic (CAR) late December 2020, thousands of people crossed the border into Chad looking for refuge in the villages of Ndoubasoh, Kombat, Bethanie and Bekoninga (Logone oriental). In Goré, the Level 1 biometric registration exercise of new arrivals is ongoing in close collaboration with Chadian authorities. As of 18 January, UNHCR reported 4,384 new arrivals (1,324 households), mostly women and children, in the southern Chadian province of Logone oriental, projected to reach 5,000 by the end of this week. 755 people were transferred to COVID-19 quarantine centers in Goré and Dosseye; while an additional quarantine center with a 500 people capacity is set to be built in Goré. People in quarantine received blankets, mosquito nets, kitchen sets, soap and jerry cans from UNHCR. 755 people have already been provided with food assistance for a month by WFP during the first phase of food distribution which took place upon their arrival. A second phase of food distribution for an additional 2,800 people is scheduled for this week. At the Doholo site, 200 shelters were built. CSSI (UNHCR’s health partner) ensures a regular presence in the host villages and in the quarantine centers to provide medical consultations, screening, vaccination for children and pregnant women as well as nutritional screening. Humanitarian partners are experiencing trouble screening the people who crossed the CAR-Chad border. A number of them are Central Africans but others are Chadian returnees (former refugees in CAR) and even gold miners. According to UNHCR, the majority of people who crossed the border are to be considered refugees. The needs in host villages are steadily increasing as the number of new arrivals keeps going up. During a coordinationmeeting on 18 January, humanitarian partners started planning a multisectoral assessment mission in the area. (UNHCR, OCHA)

Ouaddaï

New population movements along Sudanese border: Following inter-communal clashes that started on 15 January in El Geneina, Sudan, population displacements were reported along the Chadian-Sudanese border. The Chadian Red Cross started the registration of people who arrived at the border on 18 January and will communicate on estimated numbers as soon as possible. The hospital in Adre, just a few kilometers from the Sudanese border, reported six wounded including three in serious conditions which were transferred to the Abeche provincial hospital. The UNHCR sub-office in Farchana and the National Commission of Refugees Reinsertion (CNARR) have conducted an assessment mission to the area. They visited three crossing points at the border: Hile-Zakawa, Agang and Adre. UNHCR estimates the number of refugees to be in the thousands. They met with local authorities to share the results of their evaluation, voicing security concerns for the new refugees and their transfer to the site of Kouchaguine-Moura. Awaiting this transfer, refugees will observe quarantine on a site in Adre where UNHCR will provide them with NFIs (soap, blankets, mats) and WFP will distribute food stocks. The NGO IRC is organizing the deployment of a mobile clinic. OCHA continues to closely monitor the situation. (UNHCR, OCHA, press)

Lac province

Nearly 3,000 newly displaced people in three days: On 15 January, following an armed attack in the villages of Kadoulou and Daliarom (Kaiga-Kindjiria sous-prefecture, Fouli department), 250 households (820 people) took refuge on the site of Diamerom (Liwa sous-prefecture, Fouli department). Additionally, on 16 and 17 January, because of increasing insecurity on the Lac islands due to several attacks by non-state armed groups (NSAG), 521 households (2,170 people) pre-emptively left their villages in Kangalam sub-prefecture (Mamdi department). The newly displaced settled on the main land, in the Bibi Barrage and Bibi Dar-Al-Amne sites (same sub-prefecture), as well as in another site, unnamed as of yet, between the Kafia site and the village of Goumachorom (Baga Sola sub-prefecture, Kaya department). The IDPs are in urgent need of food, shelter, NFIs and water.(IOM)

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