France Shifts Calais Migrants In Coronavirus Fight

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published April 03, 2020 | 09:49 PM

French police on Friday began moving some of the hundreds of migrants camped out near the northern coastal city of Calais to temporary housing, as part of nationwide confinement measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak, officials said

Calais, France, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Apr, 2020 ) :French police on Friday began moving some of the hundreds of migrants camped out near the northern coastal city of Calais to temporary housing, as part of nationwide confinement measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak, officials said.

The transfers are voluntary and aid workers are examining people to determine if they are showing COVID-19 symptoms, in which case they will be placed in quarantine.

Buses were present to start bringing people to accommodation centres in the region, where migrants have long congregated, hoping to get to Britain.

"A total of 400 beds have been made available as of now, and we are continuing efforts to find others," the government's regional authority said in a statement.

Officials estimate that 650 migrants are living in makeshift camps around Calais, near the entry to the Channel Tunnel, while aid groups put the number at 1,000.

An AFP reporter at the scene Friday said two buses were waiting outside one camp, where officials said two migrants tested positive for the coronavirus and were placed in isolation.

About 20 quarantine beds are available for those who test positive, the officials said.

In nearby Grande-Synthe, where another 600 migrants are estimated to be living, mainly in abandoned warehouses, "daily patrols are being carried out to shelter migrants on a voluntary basis", the regional authority said.

Aid groups have warned for weeks that the migrants, living packed together in tents and with little access to running water, are especially at risk of catching COVID-19.

The nationwide stay-at-home orders and fears of infections have sharply reduced the number of volunteers working with migrants and curtailed food handouts.