Migrants at the Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) in Moria have reached an all-time record high of 13,842 people on Tuesday, as people continued to pour into the island from Turkey, at a rate of more than a hundred a day.
A total of 271 foreign nationals arrived on Lesvos in the 36 hours between midnight on Sunday and noon on Tuesday, while another 80 people arrived on Chios and 135 on Samos.
Of those in the Moria hotspot, 1060 are unaccompanied or separated children seeking asylum, of which 55 are due to depart at the end of the week in a bid to relieve overcrowding in the camp.
A total of 997 asylum-seekers reached Lesvos the previous week (October 7-13), while another 490 landed on Chios and 76 on Samos, bringing the total number of migrants arriving at the islands of the northern Aegean to 1,563.
According to reports, the number of migrants the Greek government is housing in camps on islands in the Aegean Sea has reached a record 31,000.
Sixty percent of refugees crossing the Mediterranean to Europe this year have arrived via Greece.
A state of emergency has been declared on Samos after a fire was lit at its overcrowded refugee reception centre on Monday night, destroying around 31 tents. The fire at the Vathy facility is reported to have been set by protesters after clashes in the town centre between Afghans and Syrians.
The Fire Brigade put out the fire while thousands of asylum seekers were transferred to other open-air facilities inside and outside the town. Reports claim many migrants tried to seek shelter in hotels and on the main port.
As of Monday evening, there were approximately 5,700 individuals staying at the Samos hotspot, a facility originally designed to house up to 650 people.
The schools on Samos did not open on Tuesday, following a decision by the island’s mayor.