Oinofyta refugee camp quarantined after Covid outbreak

Two residents at the Oinofyta refugee camp in Viotia, north of the Greek capital, have tested positive for Covid-19, prompting a lockdown of the facility to the stem the spread of the virus, the Migration Ministry said on Thursday night.

The outbreak at the camp – which was built for around 500 people but is thought to host almost double that number – started with a 45-year-old single father from Iraq who tested positive for the virus and has been hospitalized with minor symptoms.

The man’s daughter appears to be unaffected by the virus, but tests conducted on 18 people the man had come into contact with identified one more case. The 27-year-old Syrian woman has been told to self-isolate as contact tracing continues and more tests are carried out on camp residents and staff.

The Oinofyta outbreak comes shortly after the much larger migrant camp of Moria on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos was placed on lockdown earlier this week. Residents at the two camps will not be able to leave the facilities for two weeks, while visitors and newcomers are also banned.

According to emergency regulations imposed by the Migration Ministry in cooperation with the National Organization for Public Health (EODY), all new arrivals in Greece will be isolated in specially designed facilities for several days and tested before being inducted into identification and reception centers.

S:ekathimerini.com