Dozens of migrants violated the quarantine imposed in Sicily on Monday, a day after nearly 200 others fled from a detention center as Italy was preparing a ship to welcome those arriving. Hundreds of migrants continue to flow into southern Italy every day, especially on the islands of Lampedusa and Sicily. Exasperated mayors in the region said they couldn't keep pace due to the coronavirus.
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On Monday, dozens of migrants slipped out of a tent guarded by a civil protection unit in Porto Empedocle, on the west coast of Sicily. They had been sent there to spend 14 days in quarantine after their arrival in Italy. More than 500 migrants were in the tent, set up to accommodate 100 people, media reported.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said it had found most of the migrants and that none of those who had been tested so far carried the Covid-19. On Facebook, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said it was " inconceivable " for anyone to ignore the quarantine rules. “ Migrants or not, if they had been Italians, I would have said the same thing. It is a public health issue here. The virus has not disappeared, ”he said indignantly.
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Di Maio said police had already found 125 of the 184 migrants who escaped from a settlement in Caltanissetta in central Sicily on Sunday. Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese met Tunisian President Kais Saied in Carthage on Monday and voiced " strong Italian concerns " over the recent influx of migrants from Tunisia, according to a statement.
Tunisia's fragile economy has been hit hard by border closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Until July 24, of the 11,191 migrants who arrived in Italy more than 5,200 had fled Tunisia and nearly 4,000 are Tunisian nationals, the interior ministry said in a statement.
