Another 1,000 refugees to be transferred to the mainland by Monday
Over 1,000 asylum applicants will be transferred from islands of the northeastern Aegean to the mainland in the next three days, according to sources speaking to state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
The refugees will all be distributed to hotels throughout Greece, the same sources said.
Two ships carrying 800 individuals from Lesvos will arrive at Elefsina on Saturday, while another 100 will be transferred from Samos to Piraeus on Sunday. Another 130 asylum applicants will arrive in Piraeus on Monday from Chios, Kos and Leros islands.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) completed a call for leases of hotels and the 2,000 applications collected will be reviewed by all related ministries, the Citizen Protection ministry said.
Meanwhile, the IOM has announced a new tender for available accommodation with a November 11 deadline. A total of 5,000 hotels have already been opened for use from earlier calls, and most are already occupied.
Collaborating ministries have set a ceiling for the number of refugees hosted to no more than 1 pct of each prefecture's total population, based on data from the 2011 census.
