Aftermath of war

Some spoke of dire conditions in the centre and the growth of gangs stealing from and assaulting other residents.

Others, migrants trying to reach Western Europe, said they had been left out in the cold despite seeking refuge at the centre, its doors closed under a lockdown across the country to confront the coronavirus pandemic.

Switzerland has agreed to take in 22 unaccompanied migrant children from Greece, it was announced Thursday following a telephone conversation between Alternate Minister of Migration and Asylum Giorgos Koumoutsakos and his Swiss counterpart Mario Gattiker.
Switzerland said it will also contribute 1.1 million Swiss francs to support Greece in managing the migrant/refugee crisis.

A total of 150 people in an accommodation facility in the town of Kranidi, in southern Greece, have tested positive for the new coronavirus, Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias told jousnalists after visiting the site on Tuesday.

Hardalias said 148 of these are refugees, one is an employee, and one is an aid worker. All patients are asymptomatic, he said.

Forty-seven unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors were relocated from Greece to Germany Saturday.

Germany's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said the evacuation was "the result of months of preparation and intense talks with our European partners" and expressed hope that other countries would also begin taking in refugee children soon.

Twenty unaccompanied refugee minors were scheduled to leave the overcrowded camp of Moria on Lesvos island on Tuesday for mainland Greece, from where they will depart for Germany and relocation there on April 18.
In addition, another 20 asylum applicants are also leaving for Piraeus through a program of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, to be housed in facilities on the mainland.

The Italian Foreign Ministry, the Italian Civil Protection Department and the Greek Embassy in Rome have announced that a new operation is being planned to repatriate Greeks currently in Italy who wish to return to their home country.

The repatriation will apply to those who have lost their jobs in Italy, have nowhere to stay or have a serious health problem.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian and Syrian refugees living in overcrowded and rundown camps in Lebanon are bracing for the novel coronavirus as aid groups mobilize to help.    

Lebanon is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians in camps that over the decades have become bustling neighborhoods and at least 1.5 million Syrians who have fled the war next door.    

A facility belonging to a locally based non-governmental organization called Stand By Me Lesvos was destroyed in a fire in the early hours of Tuesday, local media on the eastern Aegean island have reported.

Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has urged Greece to immediately evacuate migrants from overcrowded camps on its islands due to a high risk of the coronavirus spreading swiftly among people living in squalid conditions.

EU-backed repatriations program aim to ease pressure on islands Migration Policy Minister Notis Mitarakis and European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson on Thursday jointly announced the establishment of a European Union-backed program for the repatriation of 5,000 migrants from Greece to their home countries.