Five people in immigration detention in Sydney’s Villawood detention centre (two people in Mackenzie and three in Mitchell compound) have tested positive for Covid, and authorities expect that number to increase significantly today. <\/p>\n
Following the positive cases, all people in immigration detention in Sydney’s Villawood detention centre are being tested for Covid. <\/p>\n
There are serious concerns for the Villawood detainees following the experience with the outbreak in the Park hotel-prison in Melbourne last year when almost half the detainees at the hotel were infected. <\/p>\n
Despite the serious risks, the government has ignored health advice to remove detainees from the high-risk detention environment. Almost two years ago, the Human Rights Commission recommended that those at high medical risk be released from immigration detention, but the government has done nothing.<\/p>\n
The outbreak follows numerous problems with Serco’s Covid protocols at Villawood. Detainees who are taken out of the centre for appointments are held in isolation for 14 days when they return to the centre, but guards are not subject to the same quarantine requirements.<\/p>\n
“Like other detention centres, Villawood has been a disaster waiting to happen,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, “Despite previous Covid scares at Villawood the government has done nothing to safeguard the health and welfare of detainees. Vulnerable detainees should have been released long ago.<\/p>\n
“Government inaction and Covid protocol failures means that all of the 450 Villawood detainees are at high risk of infection. The staff shortages magnify the risk that the Villawood outbreak cannot be safely managed.”<\/p>\n
“Anyone at high risk inside Villawood must be immediately removed from the centre,” Rintoul, “Many detainees have families that they could safely stay with.” <\/p>\n
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417275713<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Five people in immigration detention in Sydney’s Villawood detention centre (two people in Mackenzie and three in Mitchell compound) have tested positive for Covid, and authorities expect that number to increase significantly today. Following the positive cases, all people in immigration detention in Sydney’s Villawood detention centre are being tested for Covid. There are serious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":16179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[25,17],"class_list":["post-16178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-press-releases","tag-covid19","tag-detention"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t