A center for asylum seekers and immigrants in Cologne, Germany, is now under total lockdown after more than a third of its residents tested positive for coronavirus. There are now renewed concerns that asylum seekers in Germany’s communal reception facilities remain at high risk from COVID-19.
Police in Cologne, Germany, immediately sealed off the center in the inner Cologne suburb after 41 out of 108 residents tested positive for COVID-19. Out of the 41 cases, 31 were variants of the virus found from South Africa and Brazil late last year. Aside from the asylum seekers, 16 staff members tested positive. Out of the 16, 11 of them had the South African mutation.
Harald Rau, the head of health and social affairs, said, “The evidence of the mutation – probably highly infectious – in the refugee accommodation center in Herkules Street is a clear alarm signal for all of us. We have decided to step up measures to ensure that the quarantine we have in place at the site is complied with. I urge all people in Cologne to avoid contact even more rigorously and to follow the social distancing and hygiene rules.”
Charity Urges Free Masks for Asylum Seekers
Everyone in North Rhine-Westphalia, a German state, is already required to wear medical masks between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. in most public areas. On February 1, Caritas, a local charity, called for FFP2 masks to be distributed to homeless people and people on low incomes, including asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.
Peter Neher, the president of Caritas, talked about a move to give masks to people on social benefits free of charge, but he stated that those on asylum seeker benefits must not be forgotten.
Neher said that those living on the street or those who do not have health insurance are difficult to reach. He said that it should not be a reason not to consider them.
Asylum Seekers at High Risk
According to the German Migration Media Service, the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has hit asylum seekers in Germany hard.
From October 2020 to January 2021, the number of coronavirus cases in refugee reception centers in the country has seen an increase, GMMS stated. In the southern state of Bavaria, the number has doubled in just four months. As of the end of January 2021, the state had 1,393 COVID-19 cases in asylum seeker centers.
All in all, according to GMMS, there have been around 6,000 cases that were reported in reception facilities in Germany since the pandemic began. That is around 17% of the number of people currently in facilities, and the record shows there are 36,000 so far.
Medical experts have warned of the dangers that asylum seekers face in facilities. In March 2020, Sabine Ruske from the medical charity Doctors of the World stated, “the risk of transmission in communal facilities is especially high. Residents live close together. Distancing is almost impossible. They also use common rooms where the risk of coming into contact with pathogens is particularly great.”