Nine first cases of Covid-19 were detected on Sunday in New Caledonia.

Strict confinement of two weeks was announced by the president of the local government and the High Commissioner of the Republic. 

Nine first cases of Covid-19 were detected on Sunday in New Caledonia where strict confinement of two weeks was announced by the president of the local government and the High Commissioner of the Republic.

These cases were identified during investigations carried out due to the detection the day before in the neighboring archipelago of Wallis and Futuna of the first indigenous case.

However, there is a health bubble between the two territories so that travelers circulate freely.

"According to the first elements, the patient (in Wallis-and-Futuna) would have developed symptoms in mid-February and could thus have been contaminated in Wallis-and-Futuna from the end of January", declared to the press Thierry Santa, president of the Caledonian government.

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This patient, who would be a college principal, is in serious condition and could be evacuated to the hospital in Noumea, we learned from corroborating sources.

Authorities do not know how the virus entered Wallis and Futuna 

"This is a person who was out of fortnight several weeks ago after testing negative. This person saw a doctor because of symptoms and tested positive which means the virus is circulating in the patient. island, "Hervé Jonathan, senior administrator (prefect) of Wallis and Futuna, told AFP on Sunday.

Thierry Santa asked "all the people who have returned from Wallis-and-Futuna (in New Caledonia) since January 25 to isolate themselves and to report themselves by calling the 15".

Alongside Laurent Prévost, High Commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia, Thierry Santa announced "a strict confinement of the population from Monday evening for two weeks with the clear objective of breaking the transmission of the virus as long as there is still time ".

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Until now, New Caledonia and Wallis-and-Futuna were among the few Covid-free territories on the planet, thanks in particular to compulsory fortnights in hotels requisitioned for anyone arriving.

In the current state of investigations, the authorities do not know how the virus entered Wallis and Futuna.