Slovak army deployed to quarantine Roma settlements
▻https://euobserver.com/coronavirus/147970
#Covid19#migrant#migration#Slovaquie#xenophobie#camp
Slovakia is to deploy the army to prevent a potential Covid-19 infection spreading in and out of its Roma settlements.
The government has launched mass testing and intends possible lockdowns of whole communities, as the epidemic is likely to grow much faster in localities with poor hygienic conditions.
“It is by no means a demonstration of power,” maintained Igor Matovic, the Slovak prime minister on Wednesday (1 April).
“We just want to make use of doctors in uniform to start fast testing in the settlements without further overloading the regular health system.”
“It is necessary for protecting people living in these settlements and also all the others who do not live there,” Matovic added.
The move comes just days after a Roma village with 80 inhabitants near #Gelnica, in eastern Slovakia, was locked down as a young man at risk of infection - who had just returned from the UK - did not keep to the 14-day obligatory quarantine and instead travelled around.
The man eventually tested negative but the case sparked general concern over possible consequences of virus spreading within and out of the marginalised Roma communities.
Some 1,500 inhabitants from 33 Roma settlements recently returned from countries which had the outbreak of coronavirus and did not stay in the state facilities put aside for quarantine, according to Slovak officials.
People in these locations will be tested by army doctors starting this Friday (3 April) and the authorities will then decide on further measures – including lockdowns of whole communities under the army’s control, if needed.
Government experts suggest that the speed of the virus spread in places of poor hygienic standards like the Roma settlements, mainly in eastern Slovakia, could mean it reaches 20 new cases for every infected person.
“We still have some 30,000 people with no access to water,” Peter Pollak, the Slovak Roma MEP of Matovic´s OLaNO [Ordinary People] party, currently taking part in the government crisis team, said at a press conference.
Some people will worry about the prospect of army involved, Marcel Šaňa, Roma mayor of Kosice city´s Roma borough Lunik IX, told Euobserver.
“More soldiers or policemen around are always viewed with concern in the marginalised communities. But that is exactly our task – social workers, NGOs and municipalities must explain to them that it is aimed for their protection.”
“If we do not find out quickly how many people in the slums are infected, it will become a ticking bomb,” Peter Marko, general practitioner in Tatranska Lomnica, in eastern Slovakia, told EUobserver.
Marko has been involved in several health and research projects involving marginalised Roma communities and he argues that isolation of the infected would not be possible there and would spread fast.
“People in the settlements will probably be distrustful initially – just as they were when we were taking tiny samples of blood as part of research of hepatitis C infection and they accused me of using them for business. But they are concerned about corona virus so they will get to understand.”
Dr Marko also said that Romani communities react with strong emotion about the death and illness of their relatives - and the first instance of coronavirus-related victims might lead to “unpredictable wave of panic,” he told Euobserver.
Baptism of fire
The new anti-virus measures come just the second week in office of the new Slovak cabinet led by prime minister Matovic and his anti-corruption OLaNO party.
Days before the four-party ruling coalition was formed, the outgoing PM Peter Pellegrini, of the social democrat SMER-SD party, moved to close schools, churches, the majority of shopping centres and other public facilities in early March, immediately after the first virus infection cases in Slovakia were recorded.
While the first shut down was originally planned for two weeks, the new government extended it open-ended and predicted that the epidemic could culminate in mid-July in Slovakia, with somewhat milder consequences for the country´s health system as compared with other EU states.
As of 2 April, there were 426 positive cases and one victim of Covid-19 infection recorded in Slovakia.
The economic impact will be just as grave as in other parts of Europe however, experts warn.
Meanwhile, both economists and some politicians have openly criticised Matovic for his suggestion that Slovakia should undertake a total state lockdown for two to three weeks to stop the virus, similar to the Chinese Wuhan experiment.
#DOAJ (#Directory_of_Open_Access_Journals)
#DOAJ has 159 articles on #COVID19 ▻https://bit.ly/3dRzunQ
96 on ’corona virus’ ▻https://bit.ly/3aNOrVG
All of them #OpenAccess
#Open_access #coronavirus #covid-19 #articles_scientifiques #revues_scientifiques #édition_scientifique
ping @simplicissimus
Coronavirus : Aucun cas importé ce jour, 12 contaminations communautaires, à la date aujourd’hui.
Il y a eu zéro cas de personne contaminée rentrant d’un pays étranger. Par rapport à la mi-mars, lorsque les nouveaux cas importés se comptaient chaque jour par dizaines, la contamination venant de l’extérieur a été pratiquement stoppée dans un pays où elle avait commencé le 2 mars dernier.
▻https://www.dakaractu.com/Coronavirus-Aucun-cas-importe-ce-jour-12-contaminations-communautaires-a-
#Covid19#migrant#migration#Sénégal
Mamadou Oury Bailo Diallo, maire de Vélingara : « La vérité sur les 7 Sénégalais venus du Libéria et testés positifs au coronavirus... Les collectivités territoriales se dirigent vers des jours difficiles »
▻https://www.dakaractu.com/Mamadou-Oury-Bailo-Diallo-maire-de-Velingara-%C2%A0La-verite-sur-les-7-Se
#Covid19#migrant#migration#Sénégal#Frontière#Retour
Covid-19 : « Nous veillerons sur nos côtes... J’ai appelé le directeur de la pêche et la Marine nationale... Omar Sy est un exemple de patriote » (Mor Talla Tine, Préfet de Mbour)
▻https://www.dakaractu.com/Covid-19-%C2%A0Nous-veillerons-sur-nos-cotes-J-ai-appele-le-directeur-de-
#Covid19#migrant#migration#Sénégal#Frontière#Pirogues
APS - Covid-19 : un dispositif d’identification de passages clandestins aux frontières de l’Est déployé par l’armée
▻http://www.aps.sn/actualites/article/covid-19-un-dispositif-d-identification-de-passages-clandestins-aux-frontieres-d
#Covid19#migrant#migration#Sénégal#Frontières
Coronavirus : la communauté subsaharienne de Tunisie oubliée du gouvernement
▻http://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20200405-coronavirus-la-communaut%C3%A9-subsaharienne-tunisie-oubli%C3%A9e-gouve
#Covid19#migrant#migration#Tunisie#Subsaharien
COVID-19 aux USA : Quatre cas confirmés parmi les Burkinabè de New York - leFaso.net, l’actualité au Burkina Faso
▻https://lefaso.net/spip.php?article95985
https:/IMG/arton95985.jpg
#Covid19#migrant#migration#BurkinaFaso#USA#Diaspora
(COVID-19) Ghana : la fermeture des points frontaliers prolongée de deux semaines_French.news.cn
▻http://french.xinhuanet.com/2020-04/04/c_138947790.htm
#Covid19#migrant#migration#Ghana#Frontières
El Gobierno prevé liberar a todos los internos de los CIEs antes del lunes
#Covid19#Malte#migrant#migration#centrederetension
►https://blogs.publico.es/conmde/2020/04/02/libertad-cies-coronavirus
The coronavirus emergency in immigration detention centres
#Covid19#Malte#migrant#migration#centrederetension
▻https://uk.news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-emergency-immigration-detention-centres-161957657.html
▻https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/4iVqF3r50oO_aHKGjUiJsA--~A/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTU0MDtoPTM0MjtzbT0xO2lsPXBsYW5l/https://media.zenfs.com/en/politics.co.uk/e75d0c1931ed67f4f98bf015d3e078c4.cf.jpg
Malta quarantines migrant camp | World news | The Guardian
#Covid19#Malte#migrant#migration#camp
▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/apr/05/coronavirus-live-news-cases-approach-12m-as-trump-tells-americans-to-ex
▻https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4feaa811535723933d9b3d8032103b17d3cc2aa8/0_135_3500_2098/master/3500..jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-al
Malta quarantines migrant camp
Some 1,000 migrants have been placed under quarantine after an outbreak of Covid-19 at a camp at Hal Far in the south of Malta. The camp has been was surrounded by police and army trucks.
Health minister Chris Fearne said eight cases had been confirmed in two days and a risk assessment showed that the disease had likely spread since people in the camp are in close proximity.
He said the eight confirmed cases had been placed in isolation. All other migrants in the camp will have to observe quarantine for 14 days.
This follows outbreaks in Greece’s migrant camps in Ritsona and Malakasa.
Malta has reported 227 cases but no deaths.
Migrant boats carrying 53 intercepted crossing the Channel | UK | News | Express.co.uk
#Covid19#RoyaumeUni#migrant#migration#frontiere
▻https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1265188/EU-migreants-migrant-boats-channel-immigrants-calais-camp-covid-19
Covid-19: Governo garante que imigrantes que nunca deram entrada de processos têm direito a cuidados saúde - Atualidade - SAPO 24
#Covid19#Portugal#migrant#migration#regularisation
▻https://24.sapo.pt/atualidade/artigos/covid-19-governo-garante-que-imigrantes-que-nunca-deram-entrada-de-processos