Ceuta steps up public health measures after mass migrant influx

Ceuta, Aug 16 (IANS) Authorities in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta have rolled out a nine-point plan to strengthen public health and environmental controls following a recent mass influx of migrants, local authorities have said.

The plan includes enhanced tuberculosis surveillance, expanded monitoring of drinking and coastal waters, and stepped-up cleaning, disinfection and waste removal.

More than 100 additional workers have been deployed for sanitation and environmental control duties, officials said on Saturday (local time).

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia is scheduled to visit Ceuta on Sunday to assess the impact of the influx on local health services. During the visit, she is expected to meet local and central government officials, medical representatives and social organisations, and visit a health centre and the University Hospital of Ceuta.

More than 72,000 migrants crossed irregularly into Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco on July 30 and 31, according to the Spanish government. Most returned to Morocco later, while thousands remain in the enclave, reports Xinhua news agency.

Security was also tightened along the border ahead of Saturday after calls for another mass crossing circulated on social media. Moroccan security forces intercepted hundreds of migrants attempting to reach the border area, while Ceuta reported no influx on a scale comparable to that seen in late July.

Earlier on August 11, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said that the undocumented migrants who entered Ceuta will all return to Morocco.

Albares said some migrants had been misled by online disinformation into believing that entering Ceuta would give them the right to travel to mainland Spain or elsewhere in Europe.

“No one has left the city for the mainland (Spain),” he said.

“The diplomatic work we are doing with Morocco is aimed at returning all those who have entered irregularly.”

–IANS

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