More than 1,000 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats and reached the UK since lockdown began on March 23.
On Saturday, Border Force boats intercepted six vessels crossing the busy waterway with 90 people brought to Dover, as the number of people to reach the UK in the last 54 days hit 1,064.
French authorities stopped 17 more people, including a baby and five children, and have halted around 1,200 this year.
Figures compiled by the Telegraph show that some 1,453 people have made landfall on UK beaches in 2020, compared to around 1,800 in the whole of 2019.
On May 8, a record 145 people crossed in nine boats, which Home Office ministers branded “unacceptable”.
he spike in crossings has been blamed on a number of factors.
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Unseasonably warm weather and calm seas, combined with a reduced number of large ships sailing through the Channel in the last month has made the passage safer for small boats.
French police have scaled back their protection of the coast to divert officers to patrol the coronavirus lockdown, according to the Immigration Officers’ Union.
Read more: The Telegraph
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