[ad_1]
More than 1,000 people lined up on Saturday to receive free food packages in Geneva, highlighting the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on poor immigrants working in rich Switzerland, Mediafax quoted Reuters as saying.
The line of people stretched for more than 1 km outside an ice rink, where volunteers offered around 1,500 packages to people who started queuing at 5 in the morning.
“At the end of the month, my pockets are empty. We have to pay the bills, the insurance, everything,” said Ingrid Berala, a Nicaraguan resident who works part-time. “It’s great, because there is food for a week … I don’t know what will be next week.”
In a country of 8.6 million people, 660,000 people were poor in 2018, Caritas says, especially single parents and those with a low level of education, unable to find work after losing a job. job
Another 1.1 million people were at risk of poverty, which means they have less than 60% of the average income of 6,538 Swiss francs ($ 6,736) for a full-time job in 2018.
BREAKING New deaths recorded in Romania. Total deaths: 936 dead
Swiss bank UBS has calculated that Geneva is the second most expensive city in the world, for a family of three, after Zurich.
Patrick Wieland, head of the group Medecins Sans Frontieres, said a survey last week found that just over half of the food recipients interviewed were undocumented, while others were Swiss or seeking asylum.
Just over 3% tested positive for COVID-19, three times the overall rate in Geneva.
“In Geneva, one of the richest cities in the world, there have always been people who live precariously, especially those who work as caregivers, in agriculture, on construction sites or in hotels and have found themselves overnight a place to live”. work because of COVID-19, “said Wieland.
[ad_2]
