The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in cooperation with the General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees (GAPAR), has embarked on a campaign to disinfect Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, in response to COVID-19 outbreak.

Sterilization drives have seen the day in displacement camps set up in Daraa, Hums, Hama, Latakia, and Aleppo.

Disinfectants have been sprayed across access roads and on public transportation vehicles, UNRWA offices and clinics, GAPAR departments, and other facilities.

Civilians also received detergents and antiseptics as part of preventive measures against coronavirus.

Over recent weeks, Palestinian refugees sheltered across the Syrian territories have kept urging UNRWA to assist them in their fight against the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

Activists have lashed out at UNRWA and GAPAR over their unresponsiveness regarding the cries for help launched by the Palestinian refugee community in Syria.

The refugees said the sterilization campaigns and precautionary measures carried out by UNRWA and GAPAR do not protect civilians against COVID-19 contaminations.

Recently, human rights groups have warned of a projected outbreak of COVID-19 in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. Though campaigns to help spread awareness among the camps’ residents have recently seen the day, limited access to running water, pharmacies and medical facilities mean displacement camps are more susceptible to the spread of the highly infectious virus.