Refugees: Coronavirus

(asked on 22nd April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the decision by the governments of Italy, Malta and Libya to disallow landing facilities for refugees and migrants rescued at sea, what plans they have to call for the establishment of COVID-19 testing and quarantining arrangements for refugees and migrants in those and other countries.


Answered by
Baroness Sugg Portrait
Baroness Sugg
This question was answered on 4th May 2020

This is a fast-moving situation and Italy, Malta and Libya are all adapting their approach to the evolving threat posed by COVID-19. Their responses include dedicated structures to quarantine rescued migrants, mandatory self-isolation for 14 days, testing regimes and, in Libya’s case, disembarkation only in accordance with the Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration’s capacity to provide shelter. The UK is monitoring these situations closely. In Libya, the UK continues to provide humanitarian support in the healthcare sector.

The UK has contributed over £744 million of UK Aid in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, including £20 million to the UN Refugees Agency (UNHCR) to ensure UK Aid meets the needs of vulnerable groups such as refugees. This includes providing access to health services and medical supplies, improving shelters so people with symptoms can isolate, and making sure that there are adequate hygiene supplies and facilities for hand washing in camps and large settlements, to prevent the humanitarian disaster that mass infections among refugees would bring.

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