Greater Manchester Keep Our NHS Public campaigners protested outside Manchester Royal Infirmary at noon.
Norma Turner from the group said: “The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants survey of migrants with no recourse to public funds found that 58 per cent would be afraid to access healthcare because they would be afraid of being charged for care or that their data would be shared with the Home Office.
“This makes it impossible for migrants to stay safe during the Covid pandemic.
“We call for an end to the hostile environment, otherwise there is no way that the pandemic can be controlled. Racism is bad for all our health.”
HEALTH campaigners united at the weekend to push for an alternative to the government’s test-and-trace system which has poured well over £100 million of public money into the pockets of inefficient privateers.
Oxfordshire Keep Our NHS Public says that local councils should be given the responsibility to run test-and-trace systems not profiteers.
The group’s new campaign, Crush Covid with Local Test and Trace, has launched an online website involving health professionals, councillors and Oxford’s two Members of Parliament Anneliese Dodds of Labour and Layla Moran of the Liberal Democrats calling for local authorities to be given funding to carry out test and trace.