The spread of the coronavirus has health officials worried about a potential global pandemic . But while governments and international organizations are rushing to stop the virus, far-right politicians in Europe have been eager to exploit it.

Radical right populists like Italys Matteo Salvini and Frances Marine Le Pen are using fear and uncertainty surrounding the virus, believed to have originated in China, to advocate for closed borders and anti-immigration policies misleading and panicked messages that health officials warn can hinder efforts to combat the virus.

In Italy, there are hundreds of cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, as well as multiple towns under quarantine and 17 people dead. Salvini, leader of the far-right Lega Party, has repeatedly attacked the government for its handling of the crisis. He has groundlessly linked Italys outbreak to the arrival of migrants from Africa, called for armor plated borders and accused Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of failing to defend Italy.

There is no proof for Salvinis claims: Africa has only three confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to monitoring data from John Hopkins University. But his inflammatory statements are a prime example of the longtime far-right trope of associating migrants with disease derogatory rhetoric that has been a prominent feature of Europes migrant crisis.

These and other attacks, coming as officials struggle to contain the virus, have put additional stress on the European Unions ideal of border-free travel. Salvini is calling for Italy to suspend the Schengen Agreement, which allows travel between EU nations without border checks, even though health experts doubt the measures would be effective.