All citizens and personnel in direct arrangement centres will be used Covid-19 testing from Saturday.
In a joint statement on Friday, the Department of Justice and the HSE stated: “In line with the recommendations of the National Public Health Emergency Situation Group(NPHET), an extensive program of Covid-19 testing is beginning throughout all accommodation centres housing asylum candidates and refugees in the State.
” This covers locals and personnel in lodging centres (both irreversible and short-lived) and in emergency situation reception and orientation centres. Checking will roll out throughout centres from September 12 th, 2020.” The testing will be voluntary and totally free.
The commitment comes a month after a report from the Irish Refugee Council found that over half (55 per cent) of participants in direct arrangement centres did not feel safe during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Half of respondents stated they were not able to socially distance from other residents; 42 per cent shared a bed room with a non-family member and 46 percent shared a bathroom with a non-family member.
One participant said: “We might only tackle this virus utilizing social distancing but in the centre there isn’t any social distancing. Living [with] three/four or more people in the room is not [the] proper way to prevent this virus in my viewpoint.
” So staying [in] direct arrangement is not great in this time, since if one gets the infection then it can be quickly expanded.”
The council was among numerous organisations calling for asylum candidates with hidden conditions to be moved out of gathered together accommodation centres, arguing: “Overcrowding and shared rooms [in such centres] is a major cause for issue for those with pre-existing health conditions.”
Clusters of the infection in direct arrangement centres in counties Kerry and Kildare have actually heightened issues in the middle of the pandemic.
‘ Extra challenges’
In their statement on Friday, the Department of Justice and HSE said accommodation centres posed “extra obstacles during the pandemic to prevent and manage the spread of the infection”.
They stressed: “Neither a rejection to participate [in the testing programme] nor a positive outcome will affect a person’s status or application for worldwide protection in any way.
” We strongly motivate all residents and personnel to take part to keep themselves, their households and their communities safe from coronavirus. Each local and staff member will be used a test. Children aged under 5 years and individuals who have actually formerly tested favorable for Covid-19 will not be tested.”
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