Report: Germany Establishes “Refugee Camps” to Hold COVID-19 Rule-Breakers as Death Tolls Increase – Says “Forced Accommodations”

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Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country still needs "eight to 10 weeks of hard measures” as current lockdown measures are due to expire on January 31, 2021.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country still needs “eight to 10 weeks of hard measures” as current lockdown measures are due to expire on January 31, 2021. Editorial credit: Vasilis Asvestas / Shutterstock.com, licensed.

BRANDENBURG – Amid rising death tolls brought on by the spread of the new, more contagious strain of COVID-19 recently born out of the UK, Germany is cracking down on individuals who are breaking quarantine rules created to help contain the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by establishing so-called “refugee camps” to house repeat offenders, according to reports.

A quarantine period is required in Germany for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19, as well as anyone who has come into contact with carriers of the disease or is returning from a foreign “hotspot” and is awaiting a test result.

Failure to adhere to these rules can result in very high fines – as high as €25,000, or over $30,000 – but apparently even these penalties are not enough to deter some individuals from noncompliance with quarantine regulations.

Hence, several of Germany’s 16 states – including Saxony, Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, and Meissen – are getting tough with those not following the rules by establishing refugee camps – or what German officials are referring to as “forced accommodation” – of citizens who repeatedly ignore COVID-19 quarantine rules, where they will be detained in hospitals, special centers, clinics or juvenile detention wards.

The amount of time violators would be housed in the refugee camps has not been disclosed, but is presumably for the duration of their required quarantine period.

Other states, such as Berlin and Hamburg, have not ruled out camps to house offenders but are looking into other means of compelling compliance with quarantine rules first.

On January 18, Germany reported 7,141 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total since the pandemic reached the country to 2,040,659. The German death count now stands at 46,633. Germany has recently extended its national lockdown until February as a response to the mutant UK COVID-19 strain.

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