Sicily governor accuses Rome of creating concentration camp over COVID fears
Max Civili
Press TV, Rome
The management of refugee influx amid the COVID-19 crisis has led to a tussle between Sicily Governor Nello Musumeci and the central government in Rome.
Tension has reached its climax after the regional governor issued an order that closes down all the island's refugee hotspots and reception centers and for all refugees to be transferred to the mainland appealing to the fact that further 58 COVID positive migrants had arrived on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.
Some 10,000 people from North Africa have reached Italy since July, about forty per cent of whom are from Tunisia. Over the past weeks hundreds of refugees escaped quarantine facilities on Sicily's western coast where they had been tested for COVID-19 by health authorities.
Governor Musumeci has repeatedly urged Rome to declare a state of emergency on the island of Lampedusa, where for weeks a refugee center has been holding many more refugees than it should be.
The Italian Interior Ministry has reacted by saying the ordinance issued by the governor of Sicily has no value because migration and public health are issues under the responsibility of the central government in Rome. Hundreds of Tunisian migrants have already been repatriated from Italy to Tunisia via charter flights.
The number of Covid-19 cases has been sharply on the rise in Italy since mid-August and with the approach of the new school year, authorities are concerned the infection rate will further climb. However the government has made clear it is not planning new lockdowns.
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