A Covid 19 case has been confirmed at the Mclays Guest House in Glasgow.
Three others staying at the Guest House are symptomatic and coronavirus tests are being arranged. Residents at Mclays Guesthouse in Glasgow have told us that Mears will not test them for Covid 19 unless they have symptoms. They also do not know when they will be allowed to leave their rooms.
The guesthouse currently houses 44 asylum seekers. Mears has written a letter to residents and has confirmed that residents will be kept locked down inside the hotel.
Mclays Guest house is where a suicidal asylum seeker, Adnan Walid Elbi, was found dead on May 6, 2020.
Robina Qureshi , Director of Positive Action in Housing said:
“this is just the latest example of neglect and utter contempt and disregard for the lives of refugees. When all of us were told to empty the hotels, home office and outsourcing companies cut costs and dumped asylum seekers into crowded hotels without social distancing measures in place. It’s just chaos. The sooner this contract is put into the hands of the Council where there is a concept of care, the better.”
In March 2020, at the height of the Lockdown, hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers, including victims of trafficking, women, unaccompanied young people, were uprooted from settled homes and forced into hotels that were emptied because of the Lockdown
In a statement in Parliament on Monday 29 June 2020 about support for asylum seekers, Chris Philp MP, Home Office Minister said:
“Among those people accommodated in hotels there has not been a single confirmed case of coronavirus and therefore the steps taken to to safeguard the public and safeguard the asylum seekers in particular, have been successful.”
Mr Philp failed to acknowledge reports that the Park Inn tragedy on June 26, 2020 in Glasgow was carried out by an asylum seeker who was suffering severe mental health problems after being confined to a single room for 20 days in the Park Inn hotel with suspected Covid 19 symptoms.
On July 11th 2020, hundreds of asylum seekers were ordered not to leave Urban House in Wakefield, South Yorkshire, an initial accommodation centre designed to hold people seeking asylum for short periods of time before they are given longer-term housing, after 24 residents tested positive for Covid-19.