The number of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) in the region has swelled to more than 37,000 since the conflict began last December, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Friday.

The UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said over the last two weeks, UNHCR offices have reported fresh arrivals of CAR refugees into Chad, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The UNHCR has been working with the authorities in all three receiving countries to provide protection and assistance, however, the help needs of these refugees were significant, Edwards said.

He said that the influx continued as the situation remained volatile in the CAR where another 173,000 people have been internally displaced during the recent violence.

Before the March 24 coup, there were already nearly 190,000 CAR refugees in Cameroon, Chad, DRC and South Sudan, according to UNHCR.