The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published a report on Friday 18 March on the prevention and control of Covid-19 in temporary centres hosting refugees fleeing Ukraine, where the risks of communicable diseases are high.
In its report, the ECDC sets out a checklist with three objectives: prevention of disease, control of outbreaks, and strengthening the preparedness of centres. It accompanies its recommendations with different scenarios depending on the human resources and material capacities available locally.
Vaccination remains a key action, says the ECDC. The European Centre recommends the promotion of and easier access to Covid-19 and other priority vaccines, notably paediatric vaccines, for all eligible refugees.
Priority should be given to immunocompromised people, older persons, pregnant women, and front-line staff. It is important to provide refugees with a certificate proving vaccination, to facilitate their subsequent travel within the European Union.
The report presents a reminder of the preventative actions. One point is devoted to the cleaning and disinfection of the premises.
The ECDC advises testing all persons arriving at reception facilities and provides guidance on priority categories where capacity is limited. It presents measures to be adopted in the event that no testing is possible. Nucleic acid amplification tests should be the standard for diagnostics, but ECDC accepts that rapid antigenic tests are more readily deployed.
The Centre proposes best practices to optimise diagnosis according to the availability of supplies and qualified or unqualified personnel.
The report provides recommendations for the management of SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals and contact cases.
Finally, the Centre focuses on the mental health of displaced people who have suffered trauma. These traumas can be aggravated by the conditions in the centres if they are not optimal.
Disinformation or difficulty in accessing information in the Ukrainian language can aggravate these situations. The Centre therefore encourages, among other things, policy makers and health authorities to provide “psychological first aid”, in person or remotely, especially to children, and to train centre staff and volunteers.
Finally, the report presents several initiatives related to communicating risk in order to improve Ukrainian refugees’ information on the risks and prevention of Covid-19.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/v3 (Original version in French by Emilie Vanderhulst)