Coronavirus: Refugee camp and passenger ship quarantined in Greece

RITSONA, Greece – Fear that the COVID-19 Coronavirus could strike in Greece’s overcrowded refugee and migrant detention centers and camps was realized when 20 cases were confirmed at a facility outside the capital as were 20 on a passenger ferry at Piraeus, leading both to be quarantined.

The 20 patients are among 63 residents of the Ritsona camp tested immediately after a woman was found to be infected with the highly contagious novel coronavirus earlier this week at a hospital in Athens after giving birth, said Kathimerini.

None of the 20 people who were found to be infected with the novel coronavirus showed symptoms of the illness, according to reports, while more of the camp’s 2,500 residents were to be tested, with the camp shut for 14 days.

Medical NGOs and human rights groups have repeatedly asked the government, which locked down the rest of the country over the pandemic, to empty the camps and let people out because they can’t keep the recommended 1.5-meter (4.92-foot) social distance between them and conditions are squalid in some facilities.

Greece is holding some 100,000 refugees and migrants, including 42,000 on five islands near Turkey which has let human traffickers keep sending them during an essentially-suspended 2016 swap deal with the European Union.

They had gone to Turkey fleeing war and strife and economic misery in their homelands, hoping to reach prosperous countries in the EU before the borders were shut to them, leaving only the option of seeking asylum in Greece.

Human rights groups have warned that the camps on the islands are health bombs because conditions are inhumane, with not even enough water taps for people to wash their hands and with limited toilets and showers and people in tents and makeshift shelters trying to survive.

While the lockdown is being flouted in greater numbers, the government has not yet acted for tougher measures although warning that violators would be prosecuted as criminals and business staying open would face the consequences.

The Eleftherios Venizelos ferry was quarantined at anchor off the port of Piraeus after 20 cases were found onboard among the 383 passengers, including 36 Greeks, said the paper and the news agency Reuters.

The Greek-owned ferry was carrying shipyard workers from Turkey to Spain when it stopped at the port of Piraeus on March 22 and two men tested positive for the highly infectious virus, according to Agence France-Presse. Some Greek media had reported that it had been sailing from Spain back to Turkey.

Mitarachi: We’ve taken all measures to safeguard the health

“In Greece, we currently have 100,000 migrants housed in accommodation facilities, apartments or hotels. It is now 1 pct of the population, so it is likely that there will be coronavirus cases among migrants residing in these structures as well,” Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi said in an interview with public broadcaster ERT on Thursday, referring to the additional cases identified within the Ritsona refugee and asylum-seekers’ camp.

Mitarachi referred to all the measures taken, in cooperation with the deputy civil protection minister and the head of the National Organisation for Public Health (NOPH), as the entire facility was placed in quarantine last night. The Greek police has locked down the structure since early on Thursday, he said, adding that “we are distributing food, we are trying to increase security so that there is no entry into or exit from the facility for the next 14 days. “Also, persons who have been infected will be medically monitored within the facility and, if necessary, the next steps will be taken.”

He reiterated that all necessary measures are being taken at the refugee and migrant facilities on the islands, while stressing that “we are ready with a specific plan wherever there are coronavirus cases, to step up protection and guarding.”