Germans who repeatedly refuse to be quarantined after being exposed to COVID-19 will reportedly be detained in detention centers – and even under police surveillance.
Officials in the state of Saxony, which is experiencing one of the worst outbreaks in the European country, have already approved plans to keep quarantine breakers in a fenced-off section of a refugee camp, The Telegraph said.
Another state, Brandenburg, also plans to use part of a refugee camp.
In Schleswig-Holstein, repeat offenders are being held in a special area in a juvenile detention center, the report said, referring to the German Welt newspaper.
The state of Baden-Württemberg has two hospitals with rooms to hold the spotters, who will be guarded by police, the report said.
The center aims to detain only those who continue to break the lock even after they have been fined, the report said.
According to the Disease Protection Act, the states were given the power to do so, an emergency law that the German Bundestag approved last March and was renewed in November, Dr. Christoph Degenhart, an expert in administrative law, told Die Welt.
Joana Cotar, a member of the populist party Alternative for Germany, tweeted that those involved in the centers “Read too much Orwell.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, Germany on Monday saw more than 2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and nearly 47,000 deaths.