Europe's biggest asylum seeker camp of Moria, on the Greek island of Lesbos, was designed for 3,000 refugees but houses 20,000. Given the coronavirus, evacuating it is paramount, says migration expert Gerald Knaus.
The EU Commission stated on Tuesday that it was working with the Greek authorities on an emergency plan to prepare for a potential outbreak of coronavirus in the overfilled migrant camps on the Greek islands.
The civil liberties commission of the European Parliament has called on the EU to take immediate action to prevent an outbreak of Covid-19 among refugees and migrants in the overcrowded camps on the Greek islands.
Cruises across Europe have been suspended because of the coronavirus emergency. Migrant sea rescue organization Sea-Watch wants the empty cruise ships to be used to evacuate migrants from the Greek islands.
Greek authorities have denied at least 625 people who arrived on the island of Lesbos between March 1 and 18 the right to seek asylum, the organization Human Rights Watch claims.
The aid agency Doctors Without Borders is extremely concerned about the threat that the new coronavirus presents to the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. DW spoke with MSF's Florian Westphal.
Migrants camps on the Greek islands have been put on lockdown for at least two weeks to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. No volunteers will be allowed in the camps, and school classes for migrant children have been suspended.
The Norwegian Refugee Council has warned that the coronavirus could decimate refugee communities around the world if more measures are not put in place to tackle the issue for these vulnerable groups.
A six-year-old child has died after a fire broke out in the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on Lesbos on Monday. The local fire brigade says the cause of the fire is believed to be caused by an accident and not arson.
The EU has announced a financial incentive of €2,000 to migrants on five Greek islands to voluntarily return to their home countries. The goal of the initiative is to reduce severe overcrowding in migrants camps like Moria. InfoMigrants breaks down the details behind the new scheme.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has sharply criticized Greece for holding over 450 migrants on a navy vessel docked on the Greek Aegean island of Lesbos. The organization referred to a Syrian on board the ship who reported inhumane conditions.
Marco Sandrone, the Lesbos field coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has denounced the dire situation on the island, likening it to a war zone. He also stressed that Moria was "too much" for children living there and called on the EU to evacuate people.