Aid workers fear a wave of Covid cases amongst refugees as thousands of people fleeing Ukraine congregate inside humanitarian centres across the border.
Many escaping the country do so in packed vehicles and are either unvaccinated or have not received jabs that are approved in Europe, health workers say.
Isolation is “impossible” at camps, one doctor said - adding that she simply hopes people will maintain social distance where possible and wear masks to minimise the risk of infection.
Speaking at the humanitarian centre in Korczowa, southeast Poland, Alice Silvestro said: “This could become a very big problem. Covid precautions cannot really exist here.
“Almost nobody is vaccinated, and anyone who is has usually had vaccines that are not accepted here in Europe.”
Medics at the site in Korczowa - a converted shopping centre - only have capacity to test patients for covid who are being sent into hospitals, Dr Silvestro said.
The 29-year-old, who works for humanitarian non-profit organisation InterSOS, added: “Here, we have nowhere that positive cases can be in quarantine.
“Other camps are facing the same difficulties.”
Health workers on the ground are working with local authorities to create isolation spaces across the Polish border for people who test positive for covid in the camps.
It is also hoped that eventually there will be a public information drive to urge vaccine take-up amongst refugees living in Europe, Dr Silvestro said.
Almost 3.2million refugees have fled Ukraine since February 24, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced on Thursday.
Around 1.8mil have crossed into Poland, like retired school dinner lady Nataliya Petrova, who clung to a cuddly toy and wept as she arrived into the country on Friday.
The 68-year-old “has barely stopped crying” since she left her home in Kharkiv two days ago, her daughter Juliya said.
Nataliya’s son Sergei, 43, is in Kyiv, transporting medical supplies for the war effort.
“My mum is so afraid of my brother dying that she can’t even think of him,”
Juliya said. “She cries for him, for our house and for her home country.”
The pair left the city after spending three nights in a freezing cold underground station floor as bombs fell outside, despite having a basement at their home.
English teacher Juliya, 31, explained: “Kharkiv is being destroyed - they stopped hitting military targets and started firing at civilian areas. We have a cellar but we heard about people’s houses getting destroyed and them getting buried alive or having no access to water and dying.
“We felt safer in the subway even though it was so cold and we had to sleep on the floor. The volunteers were finding it difficult to get to us because of the bombs and firing outside so there was not much water or food, we had half a loaf of bread to eat all day.
“My mother has rheumatoid arthritis and her body gets very sore.”
From there they made a hellish 24-hour journey to the Polish border, during which the train repeatedly stopped as rail lines went down - leaving Juliya terrified they would be struck.
The mum and daughter are now making their way to Spain and hope to work there - and do not know if they will ever return to Ukraine.
“We do not know if there will be a Ukraine to come back to,” Juliya said.
“I am trying to be calm, and to understand that we are in safety now - but we don’t know what is waiting for us.”
