Since the beginning of UNHCR’s COVID-19 response in Southern Africa, almost 1,900 health workers have been trained on COVID-19 prevention and response, nearly 4,400 additional hand washing facilities have been established and over 329,300 households received soap for handwashing to prevent COVID-19.

The High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, visited Beirut to support and listen to the plight of all those affected by the devastating blast. Beyond the immediate and longer-term impact of the tragic explosion of 4 August, UNHCR is concerned about the combined effect of a severe economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. These three factors together are harming the most vulnerable and poorest parts of the population throughout the country.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.