One asylum seeker tested positive for coronavirus in a facility in the Monza and Brianza province in the Lombardy region in Italy. The far-right League party has demanded to put all 130 asylum seekers in the facility under quarantine.
Members of Italy's far-right League party have sent a letter on Monday asking to quarantine all the asylum seekers in a facility in northern Italy, where the coronavirus pandemic has hit hard, after one of the guests tested positive.
"Step up actions and measures to limit and prevent contagion in Camparada, assessing (the possibility of) quarantine for all the guests," the letter to the prefect's office and the heads of the Brianza health protection agency ATS said. It was signed by senator Emanuele Pellegrini and Lombardy regional government councillor Alessandro Corbetta.
The letter refers to the case of an asylum seeker that tested positive for the coronavirus, or COVID-19, hosted in the former nuns convent of Camparada, a small town in the Monza and Brianza province. 12 people in the facility which hosts around 130 migrants were put into quarantine.
Quarantine as a precaution
"We are seriously concerned about what has emerged inside the former Camparada convent, in which about 130 asylum seekers are currently hosted. This is why we have written a letter to the prefect's office and the heads of the ATS to request more checks and to assess the possibility of putting all the guests under quarantine as a precaution," Pellegrini and Corbetta wrote in a statement.
Potentially explosive situation
''We believe,'' the statement continued, "that a situation like the one in the Camparada center is potentially explosive for the population, especially since we have received reports that several of the guests move freely around the area despite a ban" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, they added, "all necessary tools must be used to ensure the safety both of the guests and of the citizens" living in the area.