Virus infections among US deportees reach Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala
Mexico and Haiti have reported coronavirus infections among refugees deported recently from the United States, noting a growing trend of contagion among the US deportees.
Three Haitians, who arrived in the country two weeks ago tested positive, a Health Ministry official told Reuters. Human rights advocates objected to the US flight, expressing deep disquiet about exporting the virus from the US to the poor country.
Several US lawmakers had also opposed the deportation of to Haitian migrants given the risk of spreading the coronavirus (Covid-19) further in the Americas’ poorest country.
US Representative Andy Levin, a Democrat, said on Twitter that the new flight to Haiti should be stopped to prevent a wider spread of the disease.
Haiti’s Prime Minister, Joseph Jouthe, said another flight carrying more than 100 Haitian deportees was expected this week.
Health officials warned that a major outbreak of the coronavirus could be devastating for Haiti, where the healthcare system was already collapsing, and water and sanitation system were also in a shambles.
In the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, one deportee from Texas infected over a dozen others at a migration shelter.
Those who tested positive, including three children 16 years old and under, have been placed in isolation.
Rachel Schmidtke, Refugees International's advocate for Latin America, said keeping the refugees in overcrowded detention centers increased the risk of contracting the coronavirus.
The Trump administration has pressured impoverished countries like Haiti and Guatemala to keep receiving deported migrants amid growing concerns the returnees are bringing the virus with them.
51 Guatemalan refugees deported by the United States on two deportation flights last week tested positive for the virus, the country said on Monday. They accounted for almost a fifth of all cases of the coronavirus in the Central American country.
Neither the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nor the US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees deportations, has commented on the number of cases among deportees, Reuters said.
The US virus death toll has risen by 1,433 taking the total above 42,000. More than 780,000 people have also been infected in the US.
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