UK asylum-seekers locked in unsafe barracks amid COVID-19 outbreak

LONDON: An outbreak of COVID-19 at an asylum-seeker holding center in the UK has led to hundreds of people being locked inside as part of blanket quarantine measures that campaigners and residents have called “dangerous.”

The disused Napier Barracks in Kent is home to around 400 people, including medically vulnerable individuals, who have been warned they face arrest if they attempt to leave.

It is alleged that asylum-seekers sleep more than 20 to a room, with just curtains hung between them for protection, and small communal bathrooms and eating areas.