Treating the entire resident population of the Ħal Far Open Centre as a single sub-community and throwing strict quarantine rules applied to the rest of the country to the wind could be against the law, legal sources have warned.

After eight open centre residents tested positive for COVID-19, the government imposed a two-week quarantine on the entire open centre and isolated the affected patients.

However, strict measures imposed on the public are going by unenforced within the centre’s walls. With a population of roughly 1,200 people, the current situation could be the perfect atmosphere for a potentially catastrophic outbreak.

Videos and photos show how large groups of residents in the open centre are still sharing communal bathrooms, dormitories, and public spaces, among other things.

Legal sources explained that the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers is obliged to uphold a standard of care, expressed as the diligence of Bonus Paterfamilias.

The entire centre’s population is being treated as an infected individual who should be segregated from the rest of the community. Legal sources argued that failing to address the serious health issues within the centre could breach  Bonus Paterfamilias.

With a population of over 1,000, social distancing and other critical measures are simply impossible to enforce for residents of the Ħal Far centre.

Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne insisted that measures imposed on the Maltese public, like a 3-person-limit in public, must also apply to the residents.

However, images sent to Lovin Malta show otherwise.

With a population of over 1,000, social distancing is simply impossible for residents of the Hal Far centre.

Superintendent for Public Health Charmaine Gauci has said that authorities are working on improving internal measures, but stopped short of considering moving the residents to alternative lodging, as suggested by MP Beppe Fenech Adami. She claimed that since most residents are young and healthy, symptoms of the virus will be weak.

There have been no new cases since the first eight were uncovered. However, the number is predicted to grow over the next weeks.

Residents who spoke to Lovin Malta have raised the alarm that quarantine measures are merely protecting the public rather than addressing the growing outbreak in the centre.

They’re terrified of either contracting the virus or of the fatal consequences of potentially passing it on to someone.

Residents inside the open centres are not illegal immigrants. Each resident has been granted some form of asylum status after months being processed in the Ħal Safi detention centres.