UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi concluded his visit to Syria and Jordan with a pledge to maintain assistance to the most vulnerable as the situation in Syria continues to be extremely difficult for Syrian and refugee populations. Following a recent spike in COVID-19 infections in Syria and Jordan, including the first six confirmed cases in Jordan’s two main Syrian refugee camps, UNHCR continues to ramp up measures to confront and contain the spread of COVID-19 among UNHCR’s persons of concern.

A series of fires at the Reception and Identification Centre in Moria (Lesvos, Greece) on 8-10 September left 12,000 asylum-seekers and refugees without shelter. UNHCR is supporting the government-led response by scaling up immediate support to this urgent crisis and is seeking to mobilize additional resources to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through adequate health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) capacity.

UNHCR's report on consequences of underfunding, released on 18 September, describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘force multiplier’, increasing the needs of the displaced population including refugees in many countries while also making those needs more difficult to address.

80% of protection clusters (21 out of 26) report escalating conflict and/or political instability since the outbreak of COVID-19. This is undermining efforts to curb the spread of the virus, triggering new displacements, reducing safe access to vital health and sanitation services and impeding life-saving protection and humanitarian services.

In a press release, UNHCR alerted that more than three quarters of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum-seekers in Costa Rica are going hungry, eating only once or twice a day as a result of the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNHCR has released the report “Coming Together for Refugee Education” which notes that half of all refugee children are out of school and calls for immediate and bold action by the international community to beat back the catastrophic effects of the coronavirus.

In a press release, UNHCR welcomed Canada’s announcement to open pathways to permanent residency for asylum-seekers in the healthcare sector who have worked on the frontlines of the country’s COVID-19 response.