Slovakia: At-home quarantine not functional in Romani-inhabited settlements, COVID-19 infected persons to be taken to state-run facilities

The Government of Slovakia will be transferring all of the persons who tested positive in the closed, Romani-inhabited settlements from their current situations of at-home quarantine into state-run facilities beginning today. MEP Peter Pollák, a Romani community member who is a member of the Crisis Team, confirmed the decision to TV Markíza.

The television reporting says those found to already be ill have not been complying with the at-home quarantine and are thereby able to infect others in the settlements. “Those who have tested positive and their family members will definitively be going to state-run facilities where the quarantine will be strictly upheld,” Pollák told the channel.

The Government had closed a total of five localities where about 6 000 Romani people live because of the positive cases of COVID-19. As of 8 April, 31 infected persons had been discovered.

The strict measures are being criticized by some nonprofits, the Public Defender of Rights, and an award-winning mayor. The current actions taken in the context of the spread of COVID-19 in Romani-inhabited localities are also being criticized by the former Slovak Government Plenipotentiary for Romani Communities.