Eleven crew members of a ship in the harbor off Reunion Island have tested positive for the Indian variant of the coronavirus, and four of them are hospitalized, the island's health authorities announced on Sunday.

The vessel, whose flag and name have not been revealed "en route between India and Brazil", requested assistance on Monday for a suspected case of Covid-19 on board, said the Regional Agency for Health (ARS) in a press release.

Three hospitalizations

It was then 20 miles (about 30 km) from the French coast. He was authorized to divert to the commercial port of La Réunion located on the west coast of the island. The sequencing of the test of the first sick sailor, who was hospitalized at the CHU, "showed on May 8 that he was affected by the B.1.617 variant called + Indian variant +" declares the ARS.

A screening was then carried out on the entire crew.

Among the 20 sailors tested, 11 tested positive.

Among them, three were the subject of hospital treatment.

The other positive sailors, not hospitalized, remained in isolation in the boat.

The ARS specifies that "with the exception of the 4 sailors currently hospitalized, no member of the crew (…) disembarked" on the island, "so as to avoid any contact with the population of Reunion".

Reunion threatened by the rise in cases

Relatively protected during the first wave of the epidemic in March 2020, Réunion is facing an upsurge in cases.

The appearance of variants, the South African in particular, has contributed to the increase in the number of patients.

According to figures published Tuesday by the ARS, 1,070 new cases were identified in 7 days.

An indicator on the rise compared to that of the previous week.

In Réunion since the start of the epidemic on March 11, 2020, 150 patients have died from the disease, including 80 in the past seven weeks.

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  • Covid 19

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