File photo: Massive rush at Kamalapur railway station despite warning against public gathering due to cornavirus pandeminc Photo: Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

In a statement released on Wednesday, Amnesty also expressed fears that the pandemic was poised to break into thousands

Human rights organization Amnesty International has urged authorities in South Asia to intensify efforts to protect marginalized and vulnerable groups, including daily wage earners, people displaced by conflict, health workers and prisoners, who are at higher risk of contagion amid the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Amnesty also expressed fears that the pandemic was poised to break into thousands of cases in South Asia as imposing strict lockdowns and curfews may not be enough to stop the spread with woefully inadequate healthcare facilities. 

“As the number of Covid-19 cases in South Asia soars, the region’s leaders must pay special attention to the most vulnerable and marginalized in this crisis,” Amnesty International’s South Asia Director Biraj Patnaik said in the statement.

“They need to protect the workers for whom staying at home means losing their livelihoods, people who lost their homes in conflicts and now languish in overcrowded camps, prisoners squeezed into cells with several others, and, not least, the valiant doctors and nurses who have never had the resources they need and are now putting their own health at risk to save others,” he added.