What happens to migrants who are rescued in the Mediterranean Sea and then brought to shore in Italy? InfoMigrants explains the procedure of fingerprinting, compulsory health quarantine, and the steps that follow.
Two commercial vessels and a Spanish rescue ship have brought more than 400 migrants to Sicily over the past three days. One of the ships, the Vos Triton, only drove the survivors to Italy after they protested against being returned to Libya.
Sicilian authorities have now reported 49 positive COVID-19 tests from the group of 422 migrants who disembarked the Ocean Viking on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Migrants and crew onboard the Ocean Viking celebrated on Sunday after they were told the ship's 422 passengers could disembark in the port of Augusta in Sicily. Disembarkation was expected to start on Monday.
The humanitarian organization SOS Mediterranee said on Thursday that its crew had rescued 121 people, among them 19 women and two small children, from an overcrowded rubber boat off Libya. Another 140 migrants were returned to Libya by coast guards on Wednesday.
On Monday, January 25, 373 migrants on board the Ocean Viking were disembarked in the port of Augusta in Sicily. The migrants had been rescued from three different small boats in the space of 48 hours.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought challenges for people and countries all over the world. Some businesses however grew during the lockdowns – food delivery services is one example. Nigerian migrant James Osawe is one of Rome’s thousands of delivery riders. German TV channel ZDF accompanied him on a shift in Rome.
An association working on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, promoting solidarity between migrants and the local community, has denounced conditions in the migrant hotspot there. The association says that the hotspot has "inadequate hygiene and sanitary conditions," and lacks "the necessities to guarantee the basic well-being of people."
The quest for a better future in a continent starved of opportunities has left many African youths with a dilemma. The journey to Europe and the USA, which has for a long time been sold as the best solution for the realization of dreams, is proving to be a mirage. On this week's 77 Percent, we hear from young African migrants in Sicily, Italy.
The Open Arms rescue ship, run by the Spanish organization of the same name, said on Sunday that it was leaving Trapani on the Italian island of Sicily to head back to Barcelona. There it will change its crew and head back out for its 79th rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea.
Over 200 migrants have disembarked the humanitarian vessel Open Arms off the coast of Sicily and are undergoing quarantine. About a hundred migrants have died in the Mediterranean Sea this week alone.
The migrant hotspot of Lampedusa is on the verge of collapse after at least 460 people arrived on the Italian island in less than 24 hours. Several hundred migrants were to be tested for COVID-19 and transferred to a quarantine ship.