The arrival of migrants in Italy has increased by almost 150% in the past twelve months, the majority arriving from Tunisia, the Italian interior minister said on Saturday.

Italy has struggled in recent months to cope with the arrival of hundreds of migrants on its southern shores, a task complicated by security measures due to the coronavirus health crisis.

According to Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese, the difficulty is not really in the number of arrivals but in the additional work required by these measures.

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"There is a need for a protection system for the populations who receive the migrants, and for the migrants themselves," she told reporters.

"Samples are taken, and when they are positive, the person must be treated while the others must observe a quarantine of fourteen days", added the minister.

Quarantine and tests 

As frustration mounts among local mayors, the government has mobilized ferries to keep migrants in quarantine and called in the military in some cases, after migrants who tested positive had escaped from reception centers.

From August 1, 2019 to July 31, 2020, 21,618 migrants arrived on the Italian coast, an increase of 148.7% compared to 8,691 arrivals the previous year, according to data presented by Luciana Lamorgese on Saturday in Milan.

Despite the sharp increase, the number of migrant arrivals is still far behind the levels recorded a few years ago.

From 2016 to 2017, Italy recorded the arrival of 182,877 migrants. After signing an agreement with Libya for its coast guards to prevent migrant departures, the number fell to 42,700 during the 2017-2018 period.

Most Tunisian and Libyan migrants

Some 41.6% of migrants left from Tunisia, and 40.5 from Libya. More than a third of the migrants who arrived declared to be of Tunisian nationality, against 12% for Bangladesh, and 7% for Côte d'Ivoire.

Tunisia faces a high unemployment rate and political instability pushing these migrants to cross to Italy.

Luciana Lamorgese said she would be on the official trip to Tunisia on Monday with Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and two European Union commissioners. 

"It is an important moment and a sign of attention towards a country in difficulty" she declared to the press, without providing more details on the travel agenda.

With AFP

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