A reported 17 migrants who reached the Greek island of Lesbos on August 4 as part of a group of 38 people have tested positive for coronavirus. All have symptoms of the virus and authorities have ordered their isolation for 14 days.
Alarm is high on the Greek island of Lesbos, where 17 migrants who arrived on August 4 as part of a group of 38 people have tested positive for coronavirus, the news agency Ana-Mpa reported on August 10.
The migrants landed on a beach in the area of Plomari.
The municipality of Mitilini, the main city of the island, announced that the people who tested positive will be quarantined for 14 days at the Kara Tepe camp and then tested again. All have reported symptoms of the virus.
Since August 1, two additional boats with a total of 80 people have reached Plomari. All migrants were reportedly isolated.
Berlin highlights importance of EU response in Mediterranean
A spokesman for the German government, Steffen Seibert, said on August 10 that it is "very important that the challenge posed by migration flows in the Mediterranean is met by a European, not a national, response." The spokesman was responding to a question on the dramatic situation at hosting centers in Moria and Lesvos in Greece during a press conference in Berlin.
Seibert also stressed that Berlin supports the European Commission which has announced a new proposal in September. "Between 2019 and 2020 Germany was always the first to move" to host refugees and "this promptness has shown the human face" of the German government's policy, he added.
The spokesman went on to say that supporting Greece is important to "improve the general hosting situation" in the country.