Kentish Express Ashford & District
Migrants move to hotels over Covid fears
Asylum seekers living at an army barracks are to be moved to hotels following an outbreak of Covid-19.
Around 100 men from the Napier Barracks at Folkestone will be re-located in order to make it easier for people to socially distance at the site.
Only those with a negative coronavirus test will be transferred and will have to self-isolate for 10 days at the hotels, mostly outside the county.
It follows claims from service users in an open letter that more than 100 people living there have now tested positive for the virus.
A spokesman for Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) confirmed: “The Home Office is responsible for Napier Barracks and in line with advice from Public Health England, the Home Office is temporarily moving a number of asylum seekers out from the Napier accommodation facility into self-isolation facilities, in order to allow others at Napier to self-isolate more easily.
“It means greater social distancing is possible in the barracks - reducing the potential spread of Covid.”
Napier Barracks was first used in September by the Home Office with the capacity to house up to 431 men who are claiming asylum.
But tensions have risen over the last month over the living conditions, with asylum seekers describing them as cramped and unhygienic.
The guests have held protests, hunger strikes and have been sleeping outside in demonstration.
Police were also called to the centre on Friday following a ‘disturbance’, but no arrests were made nor offences reported.
Several Kent MPs have called on the government to shut the facility.