UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said “mingling” asylum seekers may have caused a coronavirus outbreak at an army barracks used to accommodate them last month.
The Home Office said on Wednesday that 197 cases had been linked to the Napier Barracks in south-east England since the start of the year – 178 cases in January and 19 in February.
Ms Patel said the outbreak was caused by guests breaching social distancing rules.
“People do mingle,” she told the House of Commons home affairs committee. “People were also not following the rules.”
But the opposition Labour Party accused the government of failing to provide Covid-secure accommodation.
Yvette Cooper, the committee chairwoman, said each dormitory was occupied by 20 asylum seekers.
“Oh my God, you had 178 cases at a centre which had dormitory accommodation of over 20 people? Well, that looks pretty clear evidence to me that those dormitories were not Covid-safe if you managed to generate 178 positive cases, presumably that would have affected staff who live in the local community as well," she said.
“On what planet did you think in the middle of a Covid crisis it was safe or sensible to put over 20 people in a dormitory so they're all sleeping together in the same room with the same air overnight each night?”
Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary to the Home Office, said coronavirus guidance was “followed at every stage", including keeping a two-metre distance between beds.
Ms Cooper requested the “obviously insufficient” public health advice be made public.
The Home Office said no one housed at the Napier barracks was infected now.
Maestro
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Profile
Name: Carzaty
Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar
Launched: 2017
Employees: 22
Based: Dubai and Muscat
Sector: Automobile retail
Funding to date: $5.5 million
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
SCORES IN BRIEF
Lahore Qalandars 186 for 4 in 19.4 overs
(Sohail 100,Phil Salt 37 not out, Bilal Irshad 30, Josh Poysden 2-26)
bt Yorkshire Vikings 184 for 5 in 20 overs
(Jonathan Tattersall 36, Harry Brook 37, Gary Ballance 33, Adam Lyth 32, Shaheen Afridi 2-36).
UAE v Zimbabwe A
Results
Match 1 – UAE won by 4 wickets
Match 2 – UAE won by 5 wickets
Match 3 – UAE won by 25 runs
Match 4 – UAE won by 77 runs
Fixture
Match 5, Saturday, 9.30am start, ICC Academy, Dubai
'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
