Migrants taken care of in Lampedusa, August 29, 2020. -
AFP
Italy completed the evacuation of some 2,400 migrants from detention centers on the island of Lampedusa and to Sicily on Tuesday.
A final quarantine ship left Lampedusa on Tuesday with its destination in the Sicilian port of Augusta.
Four other quarantine ships, for a total of around 2,400 migrants, set sail for Augusta and two other Sicilian ports, Palermo and Trapani.
At least 220 cases of Covid-19 have been identified among migrants on two of the ships, the
Azzura
and the
Aurelia
, the Italian news agency AGI said.
More and more crossings of the Mediterranean
The ships were sent to Lampedusa last week after a meeting between Council President Giuseppe Conte, conservative Sicilian leader Nello Musumeci, and Lampedusa Mayor Toto Martello.
Ahead of the meeting, Toto Martello had sharply criticized the "frightening silence" of the Italian government on the migrant crisis in Lampedusa, threatening that "the entire island would go on strike" if the overcrowding problem was not resolved.
Last month, Nello Musumeci issued a decree ordering the closure of migrant centers in Sicily but the measure was overruled by a regional court in Palermo.
According to the AGI agency, some 27 migrants remain in Lampedusa after the operation, 56 others were due to arrive on Tuesday on three small boats.
According to the UN refugee agency, attempts by migrants to cross the Mediterranean on boats increased by 91% this year between January and July, compared to the same period last year.
Italy is the leading country in terms of arrivals by sea, with nearly 20,000 migrants landing on its shores according to the latest UN figures.
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