First case of coronavirus infection among migrants in Greece

(Patria) – Greece has placed an entire migrant camp in quarantine after 20 migrants tested positive for the coronavirus.

63 migrants were tested after it was determined that a young woman (19) from the camp who gave birth in a hospital in Athens – tested positive for the virus. She is the first case of infection among the migrant population staying in overcrowded camps on the Greek islands.

None of the confirmed cases had any symptoms, the Greek ministry confirmed. Testing will continue.

Local authorities have introduced a two-week ban on movement in and out of the Ritsona camp, which is located 75 km from Athens and houses 2,500 migrants.

Efforts are also underway to determine where the young woman became infected, with the possibility that it happened in the hospital not being ruled out.

A makeshift isolation unit has been set up in the camp for the sick.

More than 40,000 migrants are staying in overcrowded camps located on the Greek islands. The local government is aware of the health and other risks of the existing arrangement, but is unable to provide better conditions.

Greece already records 1,415 infected people in the country, while 50 people have died.

 

(source Reuters)