Greece quarantines camp after migrants test coronavirus positive

/greece-quarantines-camp-after-migrants-

    • Greece quarantines Ritsona migrant camp after finding 20 corona cases

      A migrant camp north of the Greek capital Athens has been placed under quarantine after 20 asylum seekers there tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

      The developments occurred after a 19-year-old female migrant from the camp gave birth in hospital in Athens, where she was found to be infected. Authorities then conducted tests on a total of 63 people also staying at the government-run Ritsona camp outside Athens, deciding to place the facility under quarantine after nearly a third of the tests came back positive. Meanwhile, health officials will continue to conduct tests on residents of the camp.

      The infections observed at Ritsona camp are now the first known cases among thousands of asylum seekers living across Greece, with most staying in overcrowded camps mainly on the Aegean islands. The Ritsona camp, however, is located on the Greek mainland, roughly 75 kilometers northeast of Athens, housing about 3,000 migrants.

      Quarantine and isolation at Ritsona

      The Greek migration ministry said that none of the confirmed cases at Ritsona had showed any symptoms thus far. However, in a bid to protect others, movement in and out of the Ritsona camp, will be restricted for at least 14 days; police forces will monitor the implementation of the measures.

      According to the Reuters news agency, the camp has also created an isolation area for those coronavirus patients who might still develop symptoms.

      ’Ticking health bomb’

      Greece recorded its first coronavirus case in late February, reporting more than 1,400 cases so far and 50 deaths. The country’s official population is 11 million. Compared to other EU countries at the forefront of the migration trend into Europe such as Italy and Spain, Greece has thus far kept its corona case numbers relatively low.

      However, with more than 40,000 refugees and migrant presently stuck in refugee camps on the Greek islands alone, the Greek government has described the current situation as a “ticking health bomb.”

      Aid organisations stress that conditions in the overcrowded camps are inhumane, calling for migrants to be evacuated from the Greek islands. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that Greece was ready to “protect” its islands, where no case has been recorded so far, while adding that he expects the EU to do more to help improve overall conditions in migrant camps and to assist relocate people to other EU countries.

      “Thank God, we haven’t had a single case of Covid-19 on the island of Lesbos or any other island,” Mitsotakis told CNN. “The conditions are far from being ideal but I should also point out that Greece is dealing with this problem basically on its own. (…) We haven’t had as much support from the European Union as we want.”

      https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/23826/greece-quarantines-ritsona-migrant-camp-after-finding-20-corona-cases

      #camp_de_réfugiés #asile #migrations #Athènes #coronavirus

    • Greece quarantines camp after migrants test coronavirus positive

      Greece has quarantined a migrant camp after 23 asylum seekers tested positive for the coronavirus, authorities said on Thursday, its first such facility to be hit since the outbreak of the disease.

      Tests were conducted after a 19-year-old female migrant living in the camp in central Greece was found infected after giving birth at an Athens hospital last week. She was the first recorded case among thousands of asylum seekers living in overcrowded camps across Greece.

      None of the confirmed cases showed any symptoms, the ministry said, adding that it was continuing its tests.

      Authorities said 119 of 380 people on board a ferry which authorities said had been prevented from docking in Turkey and was now anchored off Athens, had tested positive for the virus.

      Greece recorded its first coronavirus case at the end of February. It has reported 1,425 cases and 53 deaths, excluding the cases on the ferry.

      It is the gateway to Europe for people fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, with more than a million passing through Greece during the migrant crisis of 2015-2016.

      Any movement in and out of the once-open Ritsona camp, which is 75 km (45 miles) northeast of Athens and hosts hundreds of people, will be restricted for 14 days, the ministry said. Police would monitor movements.

      The camp has an isolation area for coronavirus patients should the need arise, sources have said.

      Aid agencies renewed their call for more concerted action at the European level to tackle the migration crisis.

      “It is urgently needed to evacuate migrants out of the Greek islands to EU countries,” said Leila Bodeux, policy and advocacy officer for Caritas Europa, an aid agency.

      EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said it was a stark “warning signal” of what might happen if the virus spilled over into less organised facilities on the Greek islands.

      “(This) may result in a massive humanitarian crisis. This is a danger both for refugees hosted in certain countries outside the EU and for those living in unbearable conditions on the Greek islands,” she said during a European Parliament debate conducted by video link.

      More than 40,000 asylum-seekers are stuck in overcrowded refugee camps on the Greek islands, in conditions which the government itself has described as a “ticking health bomb”.

      Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said Greece is ready to protect its islands, where no case has been recorded so far, but urged the EU to provide more help.

      “The conditions are far from ideal but I should also point out that Greece is dealing with this problem basically on its own... We haven’t had as much support from the European Union as we wanted,” he told CNN.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-greece-camp/greece-quarantines-camp-after-migrants-test-coronavirus-positive-idUSKBN21K

    • EU : Athens can handle Covid outbreak at Greek camp

      The European Commission says Greece will be able to manage a Covid-19 outbreak at a refugee camp near Athens.

      “I think they can manage,” Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for home affairs, told MEPs on Thursday (2 April).

      The outbreak is linked to the Ritsona camp of some 2,700 people who are all now under quarantine.

      At least 23 have been tested positive without showing any symptoms. Greek authorities had identified the first case after a woman from the camp gave birth at a hospital earlier this week.

      “This development confirms the fact that this fast-moving virus does not discriminate and can affect both migrant and local communities,” Gianluca Rocco, who heads the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Greece, said in a statement.

      Another six cases linked to local residents have also been identified on the Greek islands.

      Notis Mitarachi, Greece’s minister of migration and asylum, said there are no confirmed cases of the disease in any of the island refugee camps.

      “We have only one affected camp, that is on the mainland, very close to Athens where 20 people have tested positive,” he said.

      Over 40,000 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are stuck on the islands. Of those, some 20,000 are in Moria, a camp on Lesbos island that is designed to house only 3,000.

      It is unlikely conditions will improve any time soon with Mitarachi noting major changes will only take place before the year’s end. He said the construction of new camps on the mainland first have to be completed.

      “We do not have rooms in the mainland,” he said, when pressed on why there have been no mass evacuations from the islands.

      He placed some of the blame on the EU-Turkey deal, noting anyone transferred to the mainland cannot be returned to Turkey. Turkey has since the start of March refused to accept any returns given the coronavirus pandemic.

      Despite the deal, Mitarachi noted 10,000 people had still been transferred to the mainland so far this year. He also insisted all measures are being taken to ensure the safety of the Greek island camp refugees.

      In reality, Moria has one functioning faucet per 1,300 people. A lockdown also has been imposed, making any notions of social distancing impossible.

      He said all new arrivals from Turkey are separated and kept away from the camps. Special health units will also be dispatched into the camps to test for cases, he said.

      Mitarachi is demanding other EU states help take in people, to ease the pressure.

      Eight EU states had in early March pledged to take in 1,600 unaccompanied minors. The Commission says it expects the first relocations to take place before Easter at the latest.
      The money

      Greece has also been earmarked some €700m of EU funds to help in the efforts.

      The first €350m has already been divided up.

      Around €190m will go to paying rental accommodation for 25,000 beds on the mainland and provide cash assistance to 90,000 people under the aegis of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

      Another €100m will go to 31 camps run by the International Organization for Migration. Approximately €25m will go to help families and kids on the islands through the UNHCR.

      And €35m is set to help relocate others out of the camps and into hotels.

      The remaining €350m will go to building five new migrant centres (€220m), help pay for returns (€10m), support the Greek asylum service (€50m), enforce borders (€50m), and give an additional €10m each to Frontex and the EU’s asylum agency, Easo.

      https://euobserver.com/coronavirus/147973

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      Avec ce commentaire de Marie Martin, reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop, le 03.04.2020 :

      Des informations intéressantes issues de l’article de Nikolak Nielsen, paru dans EuObserver aujourd’hui sur les fonds de l’UE dédiés à l’accueil et aux transferts depuis les hotspots.

      C’est assez paradoxal de voir la #Commissaire_européenne affirmer que le Grèce pourra gérer un éruption du Covid19, laissant presque penser à un esseulement de la Grèce.

      En vérité, l’article indique, chiffres à l’appui, que plusieurs actions sont financées (700M euros dédiés dont 190M pour le UNHCR afin de payer des hébergements à hauteur de 25 000 lits sur la péninsule et de l’assistance financières à 90 000 personnes réfugiées).
      Ces #financements s’ajoutent aux engagements début mars membres de relocaliser des mineurs isolés dans d’autres pays de l’UE (8 Etats membres).

      Toutefois, si l’UE ne fait donc pas « rien », les limites habituelles au processus peuvent être invoquées avec raison : #aide_d'urgence qui va essentiellement au #HCR et à l’#OIM (100M pour l’OIM et les 31 camps qu’elle gère et 25M d’aide pour les familles et les enfants dispatchés sur les îles, via le UNHCR), 35M serviront à soutenir la relocalisation hors des camps dans des #hôtels.

      Le reste des financements octroyés s’intègrent dans la logique de gestion des #hotspots :

      350M euros serviront à construire 5 nouveaux centres
      10M pour financer les retours
      50M pour soutenir l’administration grecque dédiée à l’asile (sans précision s’il s’agit de soutien à l’aide juridique pour les demandeurs d’asile, d’aide en ressources humaines pour l’administration et l’examen des demandes, ou du soutien matériel dû dans le cadre de l’accueil des demandeurs d’asile)
      10M pour #Frontex
      10M pour #EASO

      #retour #aide_au_retour #renvois #expulsions #argent #aide_financière #IOM