“No one wants migrants who are sick with COVID,” but, he said, “we can’t stop rescuing people at sea.”In one week in August, 73 migrants tested positive out of about 200 quarantined in Pozzallo. About 11,700 migrants have reached Sicily since June, and 3% either tested positive upon arrival or during the quarantine period that the Italian authorities imposed inside shelters. Last weekend, a ship carrying hundreds of migrants from Africa and the Middle East, about 20 of whom had tested positive for COVID-19, circled the waters around Sicily. They were turned away by mayor after mayor, before eventually docking in Augusta, in the southeast. In Pozzallo, a 800-passenger boat now offers fast daily connections with Malta, which Italy considers risky after a recent coronavirus outbreak there.

Source: bd News24 August 29, 2020 05:26 UTC