Why asylum seekers are at a higher risk of COVID-19

With 1,400 people held in crowded detention centres and thousands more in our communities living without safety nets of income support and medicare and without the right to work, people seeking asylum are being needlessly exposed to illness, poverty, homelessness and the very worst of a system that has all but forgotten they exist. 

The ASRC is tackling this crisis on two fronts. We are:

• providing the lifesaving services and support that people seeking asylum need right now and;
• advocating to give families and individuals the right to a safety that we are all entitled to.

This is what we do.

We mobilise the community to hold the Government to account, to protect those who sought safety here in Australia from abusive policies. And while we continue that fight, we fill the gaps by providing the social services that the Government refuses to provide to people, including the COVID-19 safety nets, thereby endangering peoples’ lives and the whole community in this pandemic.

Refugees in detention are at risk of COVID-19

When it comes to the public health risk of infection and transmission of COVID-19 for people in detention the evidence is clear. 

People held in detention suffer from chronic and complex medical conditions such as asthma, COPD, respiratory illness and immunosuppressive states that place them in the high-risk category for COVID19.

Forced to sleep three or more to a room and eat in communal areas, people in detention are in constant close contact with each other, guards and facility staff with no access to personal protective equipment, or COVID19 testing on request.

Currently, there is no medical oversight into how high-risk detainees are being protected or supported during the pandemic.

Doctors have warned of an imminent outbreak of a cluster of COVID-19 infections, similar to what has happened on cruise ships, putting hundreds of lives at risk, including health workers.

“We are very concerned about the risk of outbreaks in onshore detention centres. From a healthcare perspective, many people currently suffer from chronic conditions that place them in a high-risk category for COVID-19. This request is about reducing risks to them, the community and the healthcare system.” – Professor John Wilson, President-elect of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Respiratory Physician

What can you do to help?

Make a complaint to Minister for Health Greg Hunt. By making a complaint you’ll be standing with the ASRC, doctors and human rights organisations in the fight for the safety and freedom of people seeking asylum. 

Because everyone deserves to be safe in this public health crisis.