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| - Authorities in Greece have locked down a migrant hotel in the Peloponnese where 150 people have tested positive for the new coronavirus, a local official said Tuesday. Iosif Mertiris, deputy mayor of the town of Ermionida -- some 166 kilometres (104 miles) southwest of Athens -- told state TV ERT that 150 of the 470 asylum-seekers staying at the hotel had tested positive. He added that there was tight security at the scene. "Police are stationed around the hotel, nobody is allowed in or out," he said. "The local municipality will assure supplies as it's mostly families inside," Mertiris said. Deputy minister for civil protection Nikos Hardalias played down the threat to the wider population. "There's no need for panic. Everything that needs to be done will be done according to regulations," he told ERT as he headed into an emergency meeting in the area. The migration ministry on Monday said a pregnant woman from Somalia living at the hotel had been the first resident to test positive. The 28-year-old woman had been placed under "complete isolation in her room", the ministry said. A hotel worker had earlier tested positive for the virus but had not come to work for the past 12 days. The International Organization for Migration, which has responsibility for the asylum-seekers, said it had "interpreters, psychologists, social workers and legal counsellors... in constant contact with all stakeholders to support in this challenging situation". Some 100,000 asylum seekers are currently stranded in Greece after other European states closed their borders in 2016. Migrant camps in the country have been under quarantine in recent weeks with authorities trying to keep residents apart from locals. Two camps on the mainland have registered cases. The ministry this week extended the camp lockdown to May 10. The virus has so far killed 116 people in Greece. Another 61 are in intensive care. jph/bsp
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