Dozens of asylum seekers at migrant reception centres in France and Germany have confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus.
An asylum home in the German city of Ludwigshafen, located across the Rhine river from Mannheim, has reported at least 59 confirmed coronavirus cases among residents, with the facility having a population of around 170.
The accommodation has been under quarantine measures since the start of April according to German tabloid Bild which said that infected migrants had been moved away from the facility.
The paper added that many migrants have been caught violating the quarantine measures and have been brought back to the facility by police officers in recent weeks.
In late March, German mayors in the towns of Schneeberg and Zschorlau complained that asylum seekers in migrant homes in their area were not respecting measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.
In neighbouring France, an asylum home in the commune of La Crèche confirmed that 38 migrants have tested positive for the Chinese virus, nearly half of the total population of the accommodation which houses 86 individuals of various nationalities.
French Politicians Call For Illegals Amnesty, Claiming it Would Help Fight Coronavirus https://t.co/uWBZMrTzzc
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 15, 2020
The migrants, who live in a local hotel, were first tested last week. Authorities found nine of the migrants had confirmed cases of the virus. A follow-up test was then conducted and revealed the actual number of cases was much higher.
The migrants have now been placed in three different locations, two hotels and a local apprentice training campus, with no severe cases of the virus reported among the migrants so far.
Over 100 French leftist parliamentarians have proposed amnesty for illegal migrants and asylum seekers in order to combat the spread of coronavirus, arguing that they would then have better access to healthcare systems.
The MPs wrote a letter to French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to emulate a similar temporary measure enacted by Portugal in late March.
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