Asia: In slums and windowless apartments, Asia’s poor bear brunt of coronavirus

Millions of homeless people and those living in informal settlements across Asia are at heightened risk of contracting the coronavirus due to their dire living conditions, housing experts said on Tuesday.

The coronavirus has infected about 180,000 people worldwide and killed more than 7,000, according to a Reuters tally.

While the data does not show how many lived in slums, the high density of settlements and meager facilities raises their vulnerability, said Cecilia Tacoli, a researcher at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development.

“Proximity is an important driver of infection, and low-income settlements in many cities of the Global South are very densely populated,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.