"The food provided to us is inedible and 90% of the food given to us is thrown away" — ANONYMOUS in Kos Photo credit: Lenny Rothenburg Rather than opting for decongestion, there has been a general move towards closed facilities and restricted movement. Two camps on the mainland, Ritsona and Malakasa, were in April 2020 placed under complete lockdown as both are home to people who tested positive to COVID-19.8 As of April, no confirmed cases had yet been reported in the island hotspots where restrictive measures were originally brought in on the 18th of March for a period of 30 days and which were later extended until the 10th of May.9 Although the enactment of these measures has differed on different islands, the original directive was that people living in camps would only be able to leave in small groups of under ten people, between 7am and 7pm, and only to buy food and supplies from nearby towns and villages. Only one member of a family would be allowed to leave at any time, all movement controlled by the police, public transport with a limited route would be used to buy food and essential supplies, with people being encouraged to order food by phone.10 On the 31st of March, Human Rights Watch put the total figure of arrivals who were immediately transferred to new mainland detention sites at 2000. From the 1st of March 2020, new arrivals were supposedly not allowed to enter camps and the Ministry of Migration and Asylum announced that they would instead be transferred to closed centres on the mainland, which in some cases has happened. This decision went hand in hand with the suspension of asylum registration and calls for new arrivals to be immediately deported to either their home countries or transit countries, such as Turkey. Reports from the closed centres showed a worrying disregard of the authorities for the well-being of those detained. On the 31st of March, Human Rights Watch put the total figure of arrivals who were immediately transferred to new mainland detention 8. sites at 2000, and reported that detainees had limited access to water, electricity, hygiene products, clothing, and blankets. They were sleeping in cramped tents with up to ten people, often from different families, and they were only allowed to 11 leave the site for medical emergencies. The rhetoric of invasion was employed by both the Government and the media, creating a climate in which tougher measures were easy to pass. These actions took place within a wider context of negative press and public sentiment fuelled by the coverage and misinformation surrounding attempts to cross the land border in northern Greece by refugees and asylum seekers trapped in Turkey. The rhetoric of invasion was employed by both the Government and the media creating a climate in which tougher measures were easy to pass.12 The low quality of food distributed in camps meant than many people were struggling to eat healthily. Cash card payments, the monthly allowance given to asylum seekers in Greece, were not made at the https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/24010/greece-s-malakasa-migrant-camp-what-life-is-like-during-the-coronavirus-lockdown https://www.mitarakis.gr/gov/migration/2006-παράταση%20-μέχρι%20-τις-10-μαΐου-2020,-των-μέτρων-κατά-της-εμφάνισης-και-διασποράς-κρουσμάτων-του-κορωνοϊού-covid-19στα-κέντρα-υποδοχής-και-ταυτοποίησης-σε-όλη-την-επικράτεια 10. https://help.unhcr.org/greece/coronavirus 11. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/31/greece-nearly-2000-new-arrivals-detained-overcrowded-mainland-camps 12. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/17/greece-violence-against-asylum-seekers-border 9. 04 | The Invisible Islands | Covid-19 Restrictions and Impact