Concerns have been raised about the spread of diphtheria among Channel migrants after reports that dozens have come down with the highly contagious disease after being held at the Manston detention centre in Kent.
The Home Office has confirmed that one man who died after being held for days at Manston had received a positive test for the disease amid overcrowding at the centre.
Manston, which was built for a maximum of 1,600 people, was at one point holding over 4,000 after a surge of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. However the centre has been emptied recently with asylum seekers moved on by the Home Office to hotels around the country.
Health officials said they did not recognise a claim in the Sunday Times that there had been over 70 cases of diphtheria among those who have come from Manston.
However they said there have already been 50 confirmed cases in Britain this year — compared to just one last year — with the majority thought to be linked to people who have spent time at the centre. New figures are set to be published on Monday.
Local public health leaders in areas to which migrants have been dispersed are frustrated by what they say is a lack of communication from the Home Office about the health status of those being moved from Manston.
One said: “The Home Office tell us they are screening people but when people arrive in the local area there is zero information usually on whether they’ve had any screening or treatment, let alone what for.”
Jim McManus, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, said: “Our experience of the Home Office on Manston dispersal has been that we have had no engagement. We are ready to engage and support whenever the Home Office is.”
Manston has also seen outbreaks of other infectious conditions including scabies and antibiotic-resistant MRSA.
Mark Harper, transport secretary, said the UK Health Security Agency had been working closely with the NHS to ensure those struck with diphtheria at Manston received appropriate treatment and care.
“We take the welfare of people in our care very seriously. My understanding is those cases were people who had that disease before they came to the United Kingdom,” he told Sky News.
The Home Office said the risk to the public was “very low” due to the high uptake of the diphtheria vaccine in the UK. All cases had been treated with antibiotics and were following isolation guidance.
The spokesperson said officials were boosting medical facilities at Manston.
Meanwhile the Refugee Council, a charity, said the Home Office was regularly changing the dates of birth of unaccompanied child asylum seekers to reclassify them as adults.
The council said that some boys — as young as 15 — had ID documents stating they were children, only for the government to alter their official date of births to make them over 18. Three of the teenagers showed images of ID documents or passports on their phones to officials from the charity’s “age dispute project” but these were ignored by the Home Office, they said.
The Home Office said age assessments were a “challenging but vital” way to identify genuine asylum-seeking children and prevent abuse of the system.
Government officials argue that some asylum seekers claiming to be children lack evidence and point out that the process is subjective and prone to long legal challenges.
Officials previously were able to assess claimants on their “physical appearance and demeanour” if they seemed over 25 but that was dropped to 18 after a recent Supreme Court judgment.
But Sonia Lambert from the Refugee Council said: “One of the most shocking things to me is how young many of them looked. Several even had proof of their ages, and showed us images of ID cards or passports, which seem to have been ignored or discounted by Home Office staff.”
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