(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 04 SET - The Greek authorities are enforcing "an ill-considered and potentially very damaging and harmful quarantine" on the Moria camp for migrants and asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos, one of the largest in Greece, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a note.

"This sort of mass quarantine is dangerous and must be avoided at all cost. Above all, such restrictive measures can never be a fig leaf to cover up a lack of comprehensive strategy to reduce transmission of COVID-19 in the camp and protect what is left of peoples' dignity," MSF noted.

"The numbers of COVID-19 confirmed cases among non-migrant residents of the island has been rising lately, but to this day there is only one confirmed case of COVID-19 among residents of Moria camp," MSF recalled, adding that "the government's duty of care requires them to boost the public health response for the asylum seekers of Moria, not to imprison them in their hellish conditions as a way of pretending to protect the island from the spread of the virus." "Moria is not safe for anyone, but there are over 200 identified and named individuals whose age and underlying health conditions put them at serious risk from COVID-19," Médecins Sans Frontières concluded. (ANSA).