The IOM estimates that about 400 migrants are currently been hosted by members of the local Ethiopian community in informal settlements around the city but the agency says they face increased stigma and abuse because travellers are seen as carriers of the virus.
In Djibouti, hundreds of migrants have been abandoned by traffickers in a country with one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Africa.
Meanwhile, across the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have deported nearly 3,000 Ethiopian migrants on cargo planes over suspicions that they have coronavirus.
Most of them are domestic workers – including maids – who worked legally for low pay in the oil-rich Arab states.
In Libya – the other key exit point, and the most dangerous sea crossing for migrants in the world – restrictions have prevented humanitarian boats from rescuing migrants stranded at sea – with migrants forced to return to a country mired in a dangerous conflict.
There is likely to be a sharp rise in attempts to migrate to Europe once travel restrictions are lifted – not least because lockdowns in African states have worsened poverty and have caused more damage to already struggling economies.
As for European states, they have used the Covid-19 pandemic to once again politicise the issue of migration.
Malta has closed its ports and returned migrants at sea to Libya, while Italy said migrants would be quarantined on rescue boats.
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says that of the 167 countries that have fully or partially closed their borders to deal with coronavirus, 57 have not made an exception for those seeking asylum. The right to claim asylum is a basic right, though in recent years many states have sought to curtail it.
