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Balkan Insight (9 September 2020)

Apostolis Fotiadis

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 among thousands of asylum seekers in the sprawling Moria camp – almost completely destroyed by fire overnight – on the Greek island of Lesbos has been seized on by the country’s conservative government to press the case for the creation of ‘closed’ camps.

The more than 12,000 refugees and migrants housed in the Moria camp were evacuated overnight after a huge blaze engulfed the site. A formal statement on the cause of the fire from the fire service is still pending.

The camp was placed into quarantine last week after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced. A 40-year-old Somali asylum seeker in the center had tested positive on September 2, triggering alarm at the potential spread of the novel coronavirus among the more than 12,000 people in the camp, far beyond its capacity of 3,000.

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