Spike in deaths in Darfur points to virus' invisible spread

 In sprawling refugee camps of Darfur, war-scarred western region of Sudan, officials say elderly are falling sick and dying at astonishing rates. In rth Darfur’s provincial capital of El Fasher, some say y scroll through a dozen death anuncements each day: Ar old friend, relative, community leer lost with dizzying speed.

Doctors in region’s few functioning hospitals report an influx of patients with symptoms like a lost sense of taste, breathing troubles and fevers. official causes of ir untimely deaths remain “unkwn.”

Humanitarian workers and medical personnel believe coronavirus is spreing unchecked and untracked through Sudan’s most marginalized territory, where medical facilities are few and far between and where years of conflict have left some 1.6 million people crammed into refugee camps.

Nationwide, Sudan has reported 6,879 coronavirus infections and 433 deaths, according to Health Ministry. Of those, 193 cases and 54 fatalities have been confirmed across Darfur — a figure experts believe is a vast undercount.

Since beginning of pandemic, public health officials have sounded alarm that coronavirus will take a disastrous toll on world’s most vulnerable regions, particularly refugee camps, where social distancing, even hand-washing, prove impossible.

“People in camps are suffocating, y can’t brea,” said Mohamed Hassan am, director of Abushouk displacement camp in rth Darfur. Just a corner of camp saw 64 unexplained deaths in one month, he said. His four neighbors, all in ir sixties, grew feeble and vanished one by one.

“y get exhausted n y die. re is way to tell what happened," he said.

Authorities are scrambling to curb spre of contagion amid a fragile democratic transition after massive protests last year toppled longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

“We are in eye of storm,” said Ashraf Issa, spokesman for U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, referring to country's exponential surge in infections.

Sudan's health care system is in disarray after years of war and sanctions. Dire shorts of protective equipment and staff nationwide prompted strikes by medical workers as infections rise in ir ranks. A drastic undersupply of drugs and hard currency forces sick to purchase essential medicine out of pocket. A lack of fuel has me it increasingly difficult for doctors and patients to reach hospitals.

“se are problems that Sudan faces everywhere, but in Darfur it is more severe,” said Dr. Babikir El Magboul, director of Health Ministry’s Emergency and Epidemiology Department. “It’s like a separate continent.”

Many in Darfur’s camps are underurished and weakened by infectious diseases like malaria and acute watery diarrhea. At Abushouk camp, each bathroom is shared by dozens of people. Around territory, markets and mosques — along with a growing number of funerals — continue to draw crowds.

Darfur, with a population of 9 million, has only around 600 health facilities, or one per 15,000 people. With facilities scattered over an area size of Spain, residents in rural areas must travel long distances to reach one. Doctors say quarantine centers have more than a few dozen beds, two or three ventilators and cheap gowns and surgical masks for protection equipment.

Before a new testing center opened this month in Nyala, South Darfur, testing was centralized in one laboratory in capital, Khartoum, which processes just around 270 samples each day. Health workers in Darfur say that results can take a week to come through.

To fill gap, some local doctors are working to grasp virus’ toll.

When El Fasher saw a spike in over 200 “mysterious” fatalities in just two weeks, officials launched an investigation. Dr. Taher Ahmed, deputy dean of El Fasher University’s medical college, attributed around 50 fatalities to COVID-19, but said it was still likely an undercount. Doctors in West and Central Darfur provinces also reported an unusual increase in deaths.

Dr. Abdullah am, a riology doctor, said he knew of 47 acquaintances who died past month after showing coronavirus symptoms in vills around Kabkabiya, near El-Fasher. Among m were two of his uncles, he said. One family he knew lost a bror and sister in same week.

Some camps in rth saw 10 to 15 people a day dying past week, compared to rmal rate of 5 to 10 a month, said am Regal, spokesman for a local organization that runs some camps.

“We’re losing a whole generation,” said Gamal Abdulkarim Abdullah, director of Zam Zam camp. He said he documented 70 de past week.

“ sharp mortality increase in Darfur is mostly linked to COVID-19, although t purely,” said Dr. El Magboul. Amid pandemic, people with or illnesses are struggling to find treatment. Yousef Saleh, 70-year-old leer of El Fasher’s Great Mosque, died earlier this month because he couldn’t receive his usual diabetes care.

Darfur’s violent past has bred distrust that furr corrodes government health efforts.

Conflict flared in territory when African mirity rebels launched a revolt in 2003 over oppression by al-Bashir’s Arab-dominated government. Al-Bashir wd a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, including mass rapes and killings. trauma remains even after al-Bashir’s fall.

Camp residents think coronavirus is a conspiracy to “keep people in ir homes where old regime can come and kill m,” said Abdullah, Zam Zam’s director.

Hassan am of Abushouk scoffed when asked wher people call government hotline to report suspected cases. “ government barely kws we exist,” he said.

It hasn’t helped that local authorities have clamped down on reporting. After two female journalists published an article about high mortality rate in El Fasher and lack of protective equipment for doctors, y were promptly harassed and threatened with arrest by a military officer, according to Darfur Journalist Association.

Many saw incident as an omius sign.

“When people are in dark, y don’t take things seriously,” said Dr. Abdullah am. “I fear worst is yet to come.”

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DeBre reported from Los Angeles.