Rights groups say the coronavirus pandemic and sweeping countermeasures against it are exposing millions of Roma to increased danger from poverty, social exclusion and sometimes violent prejudice. Romanian police have sealed off the town of Tandarei in southeastern Ialomita county, to which many Roma returned recently from western Europe. In Slovakia, meanwhile, military doctors have started testing residents of Roma districts following reports that some 1,500 Roma returning from Covid-19-affected countries had not stuck to quarantine rules. “And we should never forget the danger of violence against Roma,” he told The Irish Times. “All it might take is a message on social media putting the blame on Roma for deaths from coronavirus in a village or town.”

Source: The Irish Times April 05, 2020 18:33 UTC