Five people detained at the administrative detention center (CRA) of Mesnil-Amelot (Seine-et-Marne) and four police officers there have tested positive for Covid-19, we learned Thursday from a police source.
La Cimade, an association which supports foreigners in the deportation procedure held in the CRAs, calls for the "immediate closure as a precautionary measure" of this center located near Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, and indicates that it has contacted the Comptroller General places of deprivation of liberty and the Defender of Rights.
Extensive screening planned
The first two cases, detected on Sunday among the foreigners detained, were transferred to the Vincennes (Val-de-Marne) detention center, according to the police source. Three other people, who had been in contact with them, were diagnosed three days later. They were also transferred to this center authorized to receive cases of Covid-19.
Among the police officers who work at the CRA of Mesnil-Amelot, four have tested positive. None of the infected people were hospitalized, according to the same source. Since Monday, the center has not received any new arrivals, and a large screening should be carried out on Friday, the police source said.
"Although we do not know to date the extent of the contagion, new people were locked up this weekend at Mesnil-Amelot where tensions, according to the testimonies collected, are high", denounced in a communicated Cimade, which decided to "interrupt its physical presence".
La Cimade calls for the closure of the CRAs
According to her, "the Medical Unit of the CRA (UMCRA) advocates a closure for disinfection and considers the retention of people as incompatible with the isolation measures to be respected to limit contagion".
The association adds that "the employees of the cleaning company exercised their right of withdrawal on Monday morning when they learned of the spread of the epidemic".
She considers that "the conditions of confinement do not allow full respect for barrier gestures and endanger foreign persons deprived of their liberty in administrative detention". "Also, faced with this critical situation", she "calls for the closure of all CRAs".
A case of coronavirus has also been identified at the Cornebarrieu detention center, near Toulouse. External visits have been suspended. The residents, staff and police at the center were to be tested, according to a police source.
On March 27, the Council of State rejected a request for the closure of these centers, assuring that they were not "a factor in the development of the epidemic". In mid-April, the former Defender of Rights Jacques Toubon again called for their closure, deeming the risk of Covid-19 contamination of foreigners detained there "undeniable" and criticizing the authorities' protective measures.
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Coronavirus: Concern and tensions grow over risk in detention centers
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Coronavirus: Migrants locked up in detention centers in Seine-et-Marne denounce "poor sanitary conditions"
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