Many members of public television are affected by Covid-19 in Wallis and Futuna, which is facing a resurgence of the epidemic.
Consequence: local viewers are deprived of television news all week.
“Faced with the multiplication of positive Covid cases at the station and therefore sick leave, we will not be able to produce TV newspapers (…) throughout the week.
We will therefore broadcast France Info live instead of the JT (…) until Sunday August 14, 2022”, Wallis and Futuna la 1ère, the only media in the archipelago, informed on its Facebook page.
On the radio, additional newspapers will however be broadcast “to limit the lack of local information”.
Nearly 1,800 cases since the end of June
The territory of 11,500 inhabitants is facing a resumption of the coronavirus epidemic, in particular attributable to the BA-5 variant.
Since June 27, 1,796 cases have been recorded, said Dr. Bernadette Worms, deputy director in charge of Public Health at the Territory Health Agency.
“In Wallis, the peak of the epidemic was passed on August 6 and since then we have been going down.
We've curbed the spread in Futuna so we don't have both peaks to deal with at the same time,” she also said, predicting the peak of the outbreak in Futuna within three weeks.
This recovery comes after the relaxation, on July 11, of border protection measures, with the abolition of the 8-day hotel lock in Nouméa (New Caledonia) before departure for the archipelago.
However, a PCR test carried out within 72 hours before the flight and an antigen test on arrival at the airport remain compulsory for passengers.
The population of Wallis and Futuna is also poorly vaccinated, with a rate of around 40%.
Health
Covid-19: The European Medicines Agency wants to approve a vaccine targeting Omicron
Health
Covid-19: The new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines against the Omicron variant can be delivered in the fall
Company
Covid-19
news
Media
Coronavirus
Overseas
Public health