COVID-19: Greece confirms 1st refugee death

ATHENS

Greek authorities have reported the first death of a refugee from the novel coronavirus.

The victim, who died on Sunday, was a 61-year-old male Afghan national under treatment at a hospital in Athens and living in the Malakasa camp on the Greek mainland north of the capital. Health authorities are currently tracing his contacts.

The camp has been under quarantine since Sept. 7 after several migrants tested COVID-19 positive, while the Thiva camp in central Greece and Serres camp in the north of the country have also been put on lockdown after migrants there also contracted the virus, the Migration and Health Ministries said in a joint announcement on Saturday.

Mainland facilities in Elaionas, Oinofyta, Ritsona, Schisto, Koutsofero and Fylakio have also been sealed off following the recorded outbreaks.

Earlier this month, a Somali national tested positive in the Moria camp's reception and identification center on the island of Lesvos.

After an arson attack on the Moria camp that left more than 12,000 asylum seekers homeless, migrants and refugees were moved to a new temporary camp in Kara Tepe on Lesvos island, where more than 240 migrants and refugees tested positive for the coronavirus after authorities conducted 7,000 tests.

So far, Greece has recorded a total of 378 deaths, while 218 new cases were confirmed on Sunday.

The total confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic stand at 17,448.