Greece quarantines first migrant camp after 20 asylum seekers test positive for coronavirus

Athens has quarantined a migrant camp after 20 asylum seekers tested positive for coronavirus, the first such facility in Greece to be hit since the outbreak of the disease. Any movement in or out of the Ritsona camp, which is 75km (45 miles) northeast of Athens and hosts hundreds of people, will be restricted for 14 days.

Tests on 63 people were conducted after a 19-year-old female migrant who gave birth in an Athens hospital was found to be infected. This was the first recorded case among thousands of asylum seekers living in overcrowded camps across Greece.

None of the confirmed cases showed any symptoms, the migration ministry said on Thursday, adding that it was continuing its tests.

Greece, which recorded its first coronavirus case at the end of February, has reported 1,415 cases so far, Reuters said, and 50 deaths.