Yahoo Finance New Covid outbreak at third UK immigration removal centre
A number of Covid-19 outbreaks have been confirmed across the immigration detention estate and asylum seeker accommodation, prompting warnings of a major public health risk and calls to release individuals into the community.
Harmondsworth immigration removal centre (IRC), near Heathrow, the largest of its kind in Europe, is the third such centre to experience an outbreak. It is understood that there are at least two detainees who have tested positive for Covid along with a number of staff.
In addition, at least one asylum seeker being held at a former army barracks in Kent being used as initial accommodation by the Home Office has tested positive for Covid after taking a test on Wednesday.
The man is being held at Napier barracks in Folkestone while he awaits a decision on his asylum claim. He and more than 25 others have been isolating in blocks 5 and 6 of the barracks since individuals first developed symptoms. The Guardian understands as many as eight positive tests have been returned.
Last week the Home Office temporarily closed another IRC – Brook House near Gatwick – due to a Covid outbreak. There has also been a Covid outbreak at Morton Hall IRC in Swinderby, near Lincoln.
default
The latest confirmed Covid outbreak in a detention centre comes as 73 organisations on Thursday sent an urgent letter to Priti Patel calling for the release of all detainees from immigration removal centres to prevent a “full-scale crisis” because of the pandemic.
Signatories include Amnesty International, Liberty and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, law firms and barristers chambers along with the detention charities Bail for Immigration Detainees, (BID) Detention Action and Medical Justice.
The letter, coordinated by BID, states: “It is now clearer than it has ever been that the continued use of immigration detention cannot be consistent with public health and undermines national efforts to bring coronavirus under control.” It urged the home secretary to release all detainees to safe and suitable accommodation.
default
Pierre Makhlouf, assistant director of BID, said: “The home secretary herself this week urged people to ‘play your part’ in the fight against coronavirus. At this critical moment she must now do the right thing and release everybody held in immigration detention. With a third confirmed outbreak of Covid-19 at a detention centre and already historically low numbers of people in detention, there is no justification to continue to hold people.”
Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, said: “All week we’ve heard about detained people and detention centre staff at Harmondsworth testing positive for Covid. The government has funded deportation flights of Covid-positive people, spreading the virus across the globe and contributing to further transmission in the UK. This is as serious as it gets, the home secretary’s vain desire to look tough coming before the lives of officials and those caught up in the immigration system.”
Related: Gatwick immigration detention centre closed due to staff Covid cases
Emma Ginn, director of Medical Justice, said: “We have repeatedly warned the Home Office that locking people up together in immigration detention risks the health of detainees. It also risks the health of detention staff who form a conduit of infection between the community and the detained population, thus functioning as an ‘epidemiological pump’. The Home Office keeps reassuring everyone that their measures to prevent the spread of Covid are effective, but they are clearly not. The Home Office should now urgently close all IRCs.”
The immigration minister , Chris Philp , said: “We work closely with our providers and Public Health England to ensure all medical advice is closely followed and people self-isolate where needed. All immigration removal centres have dedicated health facilities run by doctors and nurses as well as robust contingency plans in place.”
Mitie, the Home Office contractor at Harmondsworth IRC, said: “A small number of staff have tested positive and are isolating, but this is very much in line with previous levels and those seen in public communities.
“These are individual cases and are not concentrated in any particular area on the site so we do not believe they are connected. Routine Covid-19 testing and full PPE equipment and procedures are in place to ensure the health and safety of both staff and detainees.”
The Home Office has been approached for comment about Covid at Napier barracks.
