42 remembered having access to an outdoor space. Instead, they described the quarantine as days filled with nothing to do but sleep or sit inside with no cell phone and nothing else for entertainment. Omer, quarantined in Chios in winter 2021, shared one spartan room with seven other people. They had nothing but beds. “It was like a prison. There were no activities at all. It was a room, and we were just staying in that room… It was difficult to bear the situation. We were just sitting there room. iv. Hygiene Legal Framework Legal guarantees for newly arriving asylum seekers and detained asylum seekers require adequate living standards which protect their physical health.163 Adequate sanitation and hygiene are underlying determinants of physical health and must therefore be provided during quarantine. really bored. The only thing we would do is go to the With respect to the rights of detained asylum bathroom. It was difficult...” Victoria, quaran- seekers specifically, the ECtHR requires that tined in fall 2021, elaborated that the only rea- states either provide them with cleaning prod- son police would permit those quarantined to ucts or ensure that facilities are adequately dis- leave their rooms was to go to the bathroom. infected, inspected for pests, and fumigated Otherwise, they were forced to remain within when necessary. 164 The Court has specifically the confines of their overcrowded rooms. asserted that access to properly equipped and Three persons quarantined at the same time in hygienic sanitary facilities is of paramount im- Chios in winter 2022 stated that they typically portance for maintaining detainees’ sense of had around one hour for recreational activities personal dignity, and that a truly humane envi- every one to three days. However, even when ronment is not possible without ready access to permitted recreational sessions, those quaran- toilet facilities or the possibility of keeping one’s tined were not permitted to go outdoors–this body clean.165 Echoing these requirements in the recreational hour was strictly within the indoor context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO auditorium, which was itself not consistently requires that states provide hygiene items to available due to its occasional use as an over- persons quarantined for COVID-19 prevention flow quarantine room. For example, Abdel ex- purposes.166 plained that while he and others played football Application in the auditorium during his last five days in Though cleanliness is important to prevent the quarantine, “the hall was closed” during his first spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses, the san- ten days, thus restricting him to his upstairs itation and hygiene of Lefkonia differed Art. 17(2), 10 Directive 2013/33/EU; Recital 18 Directive 2013/33/EU; Art. 59(1) Law 4939/2022. ECtHR has held that necessary sanitary precautions include measures against infestation with rodents, fleas, lice, bedbugs, and other vermin. ECtHR, Judgment of 10 December 2020, 42732/12, Ananyev and Others v. Russia, para 159. See also, ECtHR, Judgment of 27 January 2015, 36925/10 et. al., Neshkov and Others v. Bulgaria, para 243. 165 ECtHR, Judgment of 10 December 2020, 42732/12, Ananyev and Others v. Russia, para 156. 166 World Health Organization, Considerations for quarantine of contacts of COVID-19 cases, Interim Guidance (25 June 2021), 3, available at: https://bityl.co/CZXW (amending the previous guidelines, under WHO, Considerations for quarantine of individuals in the context of containment for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Interim guidance (19 March 2020), available at: https://bityl.co/CZXk. 163 164 ‘Quarantine of Asylum Seeker’ – A legal classification of the quarantine practice on Chios