Migrants and asylum-seekers being held at detention centers in Greece and Serbia are being placed under lockdown as a coronavirus prevention measure.
Greece has declared that no visitors, including representatives of organizations, will be allowed into their migrant centers on the Greek islands for at least two weeks, according to a report at the Ekathimerini news site.
Also, all activities in the centers have been cancelled, and their facilities, including schools and gyms, will be shut down. Residents are being “discouraged” from going outside the centers, and even from moving within them more than is necessary.
New arrivals are all being checked for COVID-19 (coronavirus) infection. Those who test positive are placed in quarantine.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, a charity which supports migrants, requested the government to transfer all migrants in the camps to the Greek mainland due to the high risk of the coronavirus spreading within the centers as a consequence of inadequate facilities.