About 9,000 migrants have moved into a new temporary camp on Lesbos, a Greek migration ministry official said on Saturday leaving abandoned camping tents and mattresses on the streets where they had been living.
More than 12,000 migrants were left homeless after a fire tore through the overcrowded Moria migrant camp on September 9, and the migrants had been sleeping on roadsides and in parking lots in makeshift shelters made of tarpaulin and bamboo, hoping to leave the island.
A police operation began on Thursday, more than a week after the fire, to convince reluctant migrants to leave the streets and enter the new camp.
At least 214 have tested positive for COVID-19 in the new camp, and are being quarantined in a special area, the migration ministry official said.
The fire once again threw a spotlight on the migrant crisis in Europe, with Germany offering to take in 1,500 from Moria.
Read more: Migrants leaving Lesbos’ streets in peaceful police operation & Greek police operation underway on Lesbos
(Reuters)
