Greece quarantines second migrant camp after COVID-19 case confirmed

Greece has quarantined a second migrant facility on its mainland after a 53-year-old man tested positive for the new coronavirus, the migration ministry said on Sunday.

The Afghan man lives with his family at the Malakasa camp along with hundreds of asylum seekers. He has been transferred to a hospital in Athens.

Tests on his contacts will continue as the public health agency tries to trace the route of the virus.

On Thursday, authorities quarantined the Ritsona camp in central Greece after 20 tested positive for the coronavirus. It was the first such facility in Greece to be hit since the outbreak of the disease.

“The number (of migrants and refugees) is very large, therefore it is a given, mathematically, that there will be confirmed cases,” Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi told Skai TV. “We have an emergency plan in place … But it is more difficult to implement it on the islands.”

No cases have been recorded in camps on Greek islands so far.

Greece recorded its first case of the new coronavirus at the end of February. Since then, it has confirmed 1,673 cases of COVID-19 and 68 deaths.

Read more via Reuters

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