The 71 migrants who reached Salerno on August 14 and were quarantined over a suspected smallpox infection have all tested negative for the disease, local authorities said.
A group of 71 migrants who reached the port of Salerno on August 14 after being rescued by the humanitarian group Sea-Watch were ordered to quarantine over a suspected smallpox infection.
Local authorities have now said that all 71 migrants have tested negative for the disease.
Two of the 71 migrants had fled the hospital of the Campania town of Scafati, where they were being treated, and vanished without a trace.
After their escape was discovered on Monday, August 18, the mayor of Scafati, Pasquale Aliberti, reassured the population on social media, saying the migrants had tested negative for the disease.
"There is no alarm or danger for citizens as the two patients cannot transmit the disease. They tested negative," he said, adding that they would have been "regularly released" from hospital on Monday.
Read Also
Mediterranean Sea: 'No one left to check whether boats are sinking'
Some of the migrants fled a centre in Eboli
On August 15, some of the 71 migrants also attempted to escape from a center in Eboli, near Salerno, where they were quarantined.
Some were able to flee while others were apprehended by security forces in different parts of the city. A few were intercepted while they were walking along a highway.
In a note, the ASL health authority of Salerno reassured the public that medical tests conducted on the migrants had shown they did not have smallpox.
Authorities have ended the quarantine and ordered that the migrants be transferred to CAS emergency reception centres.
Read AlsoItaly: Migrant rescue ship reaches Salerno with dozens of minors on board