Covid: Delta Variant Arrives in Sicily

Italy is still dealing with the Covid crisis, and still the migrants keep pouring into the southern island of Lampedusa. But it gets worse. The new Delta variant of the virus has showed up with 10 Bangladeshi migrants who have recently arrived. The below article from Giornale di Sicilia is translated by Fousesquawk. 

 https://agrigento.gds.it/articoli/cronaca/2021/06/16/variante-delta-anche-in-sicilia-contagiati-10-migranti-arriva-a-lampedusa-7151edd5-ddb1-488e-8ac9-9a05337c64cf/

Delta variant also in Sicily: 10 migrants arrived at Lampedusa infected

June 16, 2021

The first cases of the Delta variant in Sicily. A cross between the Indian and the English. Infected are 10 migrants, arrived at Lampedusa but coming from Bangladesh following the  Libyan route. As writes Fabio Geraci in Giornale di Sicilia on newsstands, all of them are asymptomatic and now in isolation in a quarantine ship along the coast of the island. 

The cases were identified at the end of May and communicated to the Health Ministry at the Superior Institute of Health and to the region.

The sequencing, which made it possible to establish what type of variant they were infected with, was done by Dr. Fabio Tramuto of the regional reference laboratory of the Palermo Polyclinic, directed by Professor Francesco Vitale, but the investigation began thanks to the activity of the Diagnostic Department of asp (local health clinic) of Palermo, led by Dr Teresa Barone, who performed the swabs in Lampedusa sending those that were suspect to the capital.

The alert is growing, therefore, among the disembarkations that are increasing in these hours. Yesterday, 150 migrants staying at the hotspot of Lampedusa were boarded on the quarantine ship, Azzurra, to be transported to Pozzallo to be transferred to reception centers in other regions, where they will be placed under anti-Covid health observation

In the evening, another 80 migrants left to Porto Empedoche on the Cossyra ferry line, who will be moved to Lazio. Also in the evening-at the disposal of the Prefect of Agrigento- 40 migrants were transferred by Coast Guard patrol boat, who will then go to Molise. An effort is being made to lighten the hotspot where, prior to the arrival of the departure of the 150 migrants on the quarantine boat, there were 1,382 guests.