Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has denounced in a statement that "administrative obstacles once again do not allow the Sea-Watch 4 to rescue lives while people continue to die in the central Mediterranean." The NGO said on October 23 that it fears that technicalities are being used by Italian authorities to block migrant-rescue vessels.
A study published by Doctors Without Borders revealed that a high percentage of people living in extreme hardship in shelters and workers' hostels in the Paris region had been infected with COVID-19. The medical charity recommends ending accommodation in gymnasiums.
Four NGOs involved in the rescue of migrants experiencing difficulty at sea have issued a statement calling for Italy to stop blocking their ships.
Doctors without Border (MSF) has called on the Greek and the EU authorities to stop their efforts to rebuild a "new system of containment for refugees and asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos, Greece" after a fire destroyed the notoriuous Moria camp.
Asylum seekers and migrants in reception centers on the Greek islands continue to be under lockdown although no COVID-19 cases have been registered at the camps. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says this is discriminatory, given that anti-coronavirus measures have been eased in the rest of Greece.
Over 11,000 refugees in Greece are at risk of being evicted from their housing and cut off from government cash assistance, according to Doctors Without Borders.
The NGO rescue ship Ocean Viking took on board 274 migrants in three rescue operations off the coast of Libya on Tuesday and Wednesday. Among them are reportedly 22 women and 64 minors.
Boats operated by non-profit groups have saved over 600 migrants in the Mediterranean within a week. Now, the 403 migrants rescued by the Ocean Viking have disembarked in Italy. Meanwhile, navy boats brought 77 migrants from the vessel Alan Kurdi to Malta.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has accused Greece of deliberately depriving at least 140 children in the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos of adequate medical care for chronic, complex and life-threatening diseases.
Many migrant farmworkers in the Matera region in Italy suffer from diseases linked to poor working and living conditions, and lack sufficient access to public healthcare, Doctors Without Borders says in a new report.
The Ocean Viking has reportedly rescued 104 migrants from a rubber dinghy off the coast of Libya. Among them are 40 minors, ten women and two babies, according to MSF, which operates the migrant rescue ship.
The German search-and-rescue vessel Alan Kurdi has completed its current mission after Malta allowed the disembarkation of the remaining five migrants aboard the charity boat.