Woman in Yarl’s Wood tests positive for coronavirus in first confirmed case in UK removal centre

Diagnosis prompts renewed calls for Home Office to release people from detention during pandemic

The unnamed woman's diagnosis was confirmed by the Home Office on Sunday, as other detainees reported widespread panic (Getty)

A woman in Yarl’s Wood has tested positive for coronavirus in the first confirmed case in a UK removal centre, prompting renewed calls for the Home Office to release people from detention during the pandemic.

The unnamed woman's diagnosis was confirmed by the Home Office on Sunday. A spokesperson said no other staff or detainees in the women's detention facility had tested positive.

Other detainees told The Independent they had been ordered not to leave their rooms since Saturday evening as a precaution, and said they felt they had not being given adequate means to protect themselves.

Campaigners said some of the women had underlying health conditions that would make them even more at risk if infected, and urged the Home Office to stop “pretending it can operate a deportation system in a global pandemic”.

The department is currently facing a legal challenge over claims it is unlawfully maintaining the detention of people who have underlying health issues – making them more susceptible to the virus – and people for whom there is no realistic prospect of deportation due to widespread travel bans.

Becky, a Nigerian national who has been in Yarl’s Wood since mid-February after her asylum claim was refused, told The Independent she and other detainees had been ordered to stay in their rooms since Saturday evening, and only permitted to leave to collect meals which they then must eat in their rooms.

The 31-year-old, who claimed asylum on the basis that she is a lesbian and faces LGBT persecution in her home country, said: “They aren’t allowing us to go anywhere – not to the gym, not outside. They said we had to stay in our rooms and not talk to people except our roommate. I don’t have a roommate.

“I usually go the gym to forget things, but now I can’t go anywhere. I’m just thinking, depressed. I’m afraid. I’ve got a headache. They should free us. Some people are sick in here, some people have asthma. They have to be careful.”

Another detainee, a woman who has been in the centre for more than a fortnight, said: “Now they are taking precautions, but they were taking no precautions until yesterday. So right now everyone is panicking. We know there is a pandemic going on and here we are not being given the means to protect ourselves.”

Charity Women for Refugee Women said some of the women they support in the centre had underlying health conditions that would make them more vulnerable if they became infected with Covid-19, but they have not been given any extra protection or information.

Natasha Walter, director of Women for Refugee Women, said: “Many of the women in detention have underlying health conditions that would make them even more at risk if infected. The Home Office is putting already vulnerable women at risk through its chaotic and inhumane system of detention.”

Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, which has launched the court action, said: “On the best scientific evidence, the Home Office is dangerously endangering life by keeping removal centres open and pretending it can operate a deportation system in a global pandemic.

“The reports coming from Yarl's Wood this weekend illustrate this and will cause grave concern for everyone that believes in human rights and universal healthcare. We will be putting this evidence before the High Court at a hearing next week and calling for comprehensive and urgent releases."

A Home Office spokesperson said: “A woman at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre tested positive for coronavirus and following guidance from Public Health England (PHE), was placed in isolation after displaying symptoms. No other staff or detainees have tested positive for coronavirus.

“Immigration enforcement is responding to the unique circumstances of the coronavirus outbreak and decisions to detain are made on a case-by-case basis. The health of people in these centres is of the utmost importance. We are following all PHE guidance and have robust contingency planning in place.”