The Government has been blasted over an outbreak of nearly 200 coronavirus cases at an ‘unsuitable’ military barracks it is using to house asylum seekers in Kent. 

At a dramatic hearing about safety at Napier Barracks, the Home Office was asked ‘what planet’ it is on after putting 28 people in one dormitory during the pandemic.

Home Secretary Priti Patel appeared to blame ‘mingling’ migrants for the outbreak – a response branded ‘astonishing’, as it emerged that almost half of the roughly 400 people at the site had become infected. 

A top civil servant said guidance was being followed and that there was ‘two metres between beds’, but it was quickly pointed out that Covid-19 can be spread through the air. More than 20 people were sleeping in rooms together and there had been protests from those housed at the facility for months about a lack of social distancing. 

At a Home Affairs Select Committee session on Wednesday, chair Yvette Cooper asked Home Office Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft: ‘On what planet did you think that in the middle of a Covid crisis, it was safe or sensible to put over 20 people in a dormitory so they were all sleeping together in the same room with the same air overnight each night?’

After Mr Rycroft had admitted that there had been 178 cases in January and 19 in February, Ms Cooper reacted: ‘Oh my God, you had 178 cases at a centre which had dormitory accommodation of over 20 people in those dormitories – that looks like pretty clear evidence to me that those dormitories were not Covid-safe.

‘Presumably, that would have affected staff who all live in the local community as well.’

Mr Rycroft replied: ‘as the Home Secretary said, we were following the guidance at every stage and the guidance was to ensure there was as much space as possible, certainly two metres between beds’.

No one is currently thought to be Covid positive at the barracks and the Home Office claims some people there refused to follow social distancing guidelines. 

The barracks have been used to accommodate hundreds of asylum seekers since last September, despite the Home Office being previously warned by Public Health England that they were unsuitable.

There have been repeated protests at the barracks stretching back to last year and even in November asylum seekers were saying it was ‘impossible’ to socially distance. 

By January, some had gone on hunger strike and were sleeping outside because of the conditions inside. 

The Home Office says it moved people who had tested negative from the site so there was more space for others to self-isolate.

Ms Cooper suggested the guidance in this case ‘obviously wasn’t sufficient’ and called for the public health advice to be published.

The Home Office declined to comment when contacted by Metro.co.uk and did not immediately answer whether anyone had died with the virus, whether it would publish the guidance or why nearly 30 people were sleeping in one room.

Mr Rycroft told the committee: ‘I can commit chair, subject to the ongoing court cases, to provide as much transparency as possible.’

Ms Patel added: ‘People do mingle and it is a fact… that people were also not following the rules and that we also have to bear in mind.

‘Covid, being as contagious as it is, spreads, so we have spent a significant amount of time working with our stakeholders and putting in mitigation measures to mitigate the risk while also undertaking the right kind of checks (with) Covid tests and for moving people out of this facility as well.’

Ms Cooper responded: ‘That is still a bit of an astonishing response, effectively you are blaming those people for not following the rules when they were put in accommodation where they had to sleep over 28 people to a room.’

No one new has been moved onto the site since the outbreak was discovered – and will not be until it is officially declared over. 

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