This appeal was launched by Dr Hilde Vochten, medical coordinator at Médecins Sans Frontières in Greece. The situation in the refugee camps in Greece is extremely precarious and the NGOs present are constantly warning of the danger of the situation.
In Greece containment came into force on Monday 23 March and will remain in force until at least 27 April. Although so far only 1832 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed and 81 infected people have died, the Greek government wanted to anticipate and take preventive measures to stop the spread.
Yet many NGOs warn of the dangerousness of the situation in the refugee camps and the impossibility of containing the epidemic in these overcrowded camps. On the island of Samos, 8,000 refugees live in the Vathy camp, which has a capacity of 650 people, in extremely precarious conditions. It is impossible for them to apply barrier measures to the coronavirus epidemic; there are very few water points preventing frequent hand washing and little soap is available. Moreover, social distancing of at least 1 metre is simply impossible to respect. Indeed, the refugees are crammed on top of each other, families of 6 people share a 3m² sleeping space.
Although for the moment no official case of COVID-19 has been detected in the Samos camp, the few NGOs on the spot continue to warn that the inhumane living conditions in the camps are conducive to the spread of the virus. The NGO Médecins Sans Frontières calls for the urgent evacuation of the refugee camps: "The health authorities must put in place a plan that includes infection prevention and control measures, health promotion, rapid identification of cases, isolation and management of non-severe cases and treatment of severe and critical cases. In the absence of such a plan, the evacuation of the camps on the Greek islands is more urgent than ever.’’ »
Situation in Greece – Samos