According to UN data, more than 19,000 migrants have arrived in Europe this year, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister György Bakondi said on the public service television news channel M1 on Wednesday morning.

The chief advisor said some of the registered migrants arrived in Spain and Italy, while others in substantial numbers in Greece via the so-called Balkans route.

He also said one of the impacts of the coronavirus epidemic is that migrants are unable to cross the sealed borders; at present, there are more than 124,000 of them on the Balkans route. The countries concerned are making efforts to provide them with accommodation in camps, and are also testing them for the virus, he added.

It is perfectly evident, Mr Bakondi highlighted, that in addition to social, political and security risks, migration also causes public health problems.

He added that people are mostly arriving at the Balkans route from Turkey, a country where in the past few days the number of infected persons has risen significantly.

On Kossuth Radio’s programme ‘Good morning, Hungary’, the chief advisor highlighted that there are more than 100,000 migrants in Greece where the situation is now critical.

The situation has abated on the Turkish-Greek border, he added, after the Turkish authorities removed migrants from there due to the epidemic.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)