Fears over coronavirus risk in prisons as first UK inmate case confirmed (The Guardian) (19 March 2020)

A report by Professor Richard Coker of the London School of Hygiene and Topical Medicine warns of the risk of Covid-19 spreading at a fast rate through locked establishments such as prisons and detention centres, this comes following the news that the first case of coronavirus in Strangeways prison in Manchester. This report was commissioned by Duncan Lewis Solicitors as we embark on what is believed to be the first legal action concerning Covid-19; calling on the Home Office to release many detainees from immigration detention due to the high risk of contracting the virus should they remain locked up. Public law director Toufique Hossain comments; “The government is sitting on its hands, keeping detainees locked up during this pandemic, contrary to its earnest public health instruction and exposing detainees to a severe risk of infection. The time for swift action is overdue.”