ATHENS – At least 1,100 approved asylum seekers have been transferred off Lesbos island between March 23 and April 13, the Migration & Asylum Ministry said in statement on Wednesday.

Before leaving, the refugees were tested for coronavirus.

Authorities are continuing their efforts for the decongestion of the island, which has faced the brunt of migration waves in the last years. On April 12, registered migrants at the temporary Kara Tepe refugee site totaled 5,938, the lowest recorded number of residents there so far in many months. Another 885 people are housed at the municipal facility in Kara Tepe that is scheduled to shut down at the end of April.

The Kara Tepe refugee site was set up after the Moria refugee hotspot burned to the ground in 2020; over 20,000 migrants and refugees had been housed there early last year.