Italy completed the evacuation of some 2,400 migrants from detention centers on the island of Lampedusa and to Sicily on Tuesday, an Italian news agency said.
Read also: Lampedusa, overwhelmed by the arrivals of migrants, wants to go on strike
A final quarantine ship left Lampedusa on Tuesday with its destination in the Sicilian port of Augusta, according to AGI.
"
Snav Adriatico, after boarding 170 people this morning, and with a total of 330 people, has set sail and is heading for Augusta,
" the agency reported.
Four other quarantine ships, for a total of around 2,400 migrants between them, were heading towards Augusta and two other Sicilian ports, Palermo and Trapani.
At least 220 cases of Covid-19 have been identified among migrants on two of the ships, the Azzura and the Aurelia, AGI said.
The ships were sent to Lampedusa last week after a meeting between Council President Giuseppe Conte, conservative Sicilian leader Nello Musumeci, and Lampedusa Mayor Toto Martello.
Ahead of the meeting, Toto Martello had sharply criticized the "
frightening silence
" of the Italian government on the migrant crisis in Lampedusa, threatening that "
the entire island would go on strike
" if the overcrowding problem was not resolved.
Mr Musumeci issued a decree last month ordering the closure of migrant centers in Sicily but the measure was dismissed by a regional court in Palermo.
According to AGI, some 27 migrants remain in Lampedusa after the operation, another 56 arriving Tuesday on three small boats.
According to the UN refugee agency, attempts to cross the Mediterranean on boats by migrants increased this year by 91% between January and July, compared to the same period last year.
Italy is the leading country in terms of arrivals by sea, with nearly 20,000 migrants landing on its shores according to the latest UN figures.
