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Cyclone Amphan comes as both India and Bangladesh struggle to bring local coronavirus outbreaks under control.
India passed more than 100,000 confirmed infections on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University, recording its largest single-day spike yet with a total of 5,242 new cases.
Meanwhile Bangladesh's infection count is rapidly rising, with more than 1,300 new cases on Sunday, its biggest rise yet. In total, the country has recorded 25,121 confirmed infections, according to Johns Hopkins.
Two disasters at the same time: Tackling both disasters at once will be challenging for the two governments, especially if they attempt to maintain social distancing in packed evacuation centers and emergency shelters.
"(All NDRF workers) have to be masked, everyone has to wear visor, gloves ... It's almost certain that they will be going to do rescue work in red (heavily-infected) zones ... They may be actually rescuing people who are already infected. It is a double challenge," said Satya Narayan Pradhan, Director-General of India's National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF).
Pradeep Jena, special relief commissioner for India's Odisha State, said emergency services had to balance saving lives from the cyclone with saving lives from the coronavirus.
"We have to strike a balance between the two and evacuate people wherever it is extremely essential, otherwise people are better off in their own homes," he said.
Jena said in evacuation centers, they were trying to keep the elderly and pregnant women separate from the rest of the population and were working hard to obtain adequate soap for the shelters.
"Social distancing is definitely a very good concept but enforcing it in the strictest possible manner in a disaster situation may not always be possible," he said.