The data also shows that 25% of virus tests taken by foreign workers return positive, much higher than in the general population.
Officials estimate that in Tel Aviv alone there are currently 40,000 foreign workers and asylum seekers, about 7,000 of whom are minors. Half of them appear to be asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan with the other half being legal and illegal migrant workers, most of whom are from West and Central Africa and the Philippines.
The majority of them live in south Tel Aviv, where a coronavirus testing center, established specifically for the foreign workers, has been operating on and off since the start of the outbreak in Israel.
Many of the workers, however, tend to avoid getting tested out of fear that a positive diagnosis would put them out a job. Many of the workers and asylum seekers are employed in sectors of the economy heavily affected by the health crisis, such as hotels and restaurants.
In addition, due to the crowded living conditions of most of the migrants, it appears to be extremely difficult for them to remain in isolation at their homes, resulting in them possibly spreading the infection into the surrounding environment.
According to the National Information and Knowledge Center, the Health Ministry does not know where most of the COVID-19 patients from the community are self-isolating and the officials’ ability to locate them appears to be very limited due to some of them receding in the country illegally. Read more at YNET
