Arrivals
This week, 17 people arrived on the Aegean islands, a decrease from last week’s 25 and from last year’s 2,370 arrivals during the same period.
The average daily arrivals on all islands this week equaled 2, compared to 4 in the previous week.
Present Population on the Islands
Some 19,900 refugees and asylum-seekers reside on the Aegean islands. The majority of the population on the Aegean islands are from Afghanistan (45%), Syria (20%) and DRC (7%).
Women account for 21% of the population, and children for 29% of whom nearly 7 out of 10 are younger than 12 years old.
Approximately 5% of the children are unaccompanied or separated, mainly from Afghanistan.
Shielding against Covid-19
To ‘shield’ the older and immune-compromised asylum-seekers from the risk of COVID19, UNHCR is currently prioritizing their transfer out of the island RICs into ESTIA apartments on the islands or the mainland and hotels on the islands. This week, 20 people were moved, all of whom to ESTIA on the mainland.