Refugees are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus spread, new report shows

Greece refugees.
(Image credit: MANOLIS LAGOUTARIS/AFP via Getty Images)

A report released by the independent humanitarian organization Refugees International called into question worldwide border closures amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, The Washington Post reports.

The report argues the world's 70 million refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced peoples are among the most vulnerable to the spread of the virus, and sealed-off borders decrease their already-limited capacity to combat it, especially as the humanitarian supply chain that keeps them alive is threatened.

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In Greece, for example, the report notes 40,000 asylum seekers are "trapped" in "appalling conditions" on the Aegean Islands without running water.

"Meanwhile, nationalist leaders and politicians throughout the region — including in Italy and Spain — have seized upon the outbreak as a false basis for xenophobic, anti-refugee rhetoric and policies," the report reads.

So far, the number of reported infections in refugee camps remains low, but COVID-19 testing has been very limited. Read more at The Washington Post.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.