Still in the orange zone, Mayotte is still struck by the Covid-19 epidemic. A new "cluster" appeared this Thursday. 183 detainees out of 323 in the Mayotte penitentiary center alone in Majicavo Lamir in the commune of Koungou were tested positive, said on Thursday the management of the prison administration (DAP). The first symptomatic cases appeared on May 22, DAP told AFP. On May 25, three detainees tested positive. The figure rose to eight the next day. The Regional Health Agency (ARS) then decided to carry out a massive screening.
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Result: 183 prisoners out of a total of 323 are infected with the virus. Concerning the personnel, 16 were tested positive, but 120 test results are still pending. "No case required hospitalization," assured the DAP. "The health protocol is the same" as in other French penal establishments, which have managed to control the coronavirus.
According to DAP figures, there were 66 prison officers and 186 prisoners with coronavirus in Wednesday in 188 French prisons, including Mayotte.
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The health protocol provides in particular that suspect cases are systematically tested and that they are confined. New arrivals must be placed in the fortnight. The visiting rooms with the relatives of the detainees were suspended in mid-March and have still not resumed in Majicavo.
Too much laxity on the part of the hierarchy according to the unions
The DAP does not offer any leads to explain how the coronavirus was able to enter and then spread in detention. The prison occupancy rate is 116% in Majicavo. Thirty-two detainees have been released since mid-March to reduce this overcrowding.
The CGT and FO unions accuse their hierarchy of having been slow to react and of having been negligent in not providing them with masks, overcoats and other protective equipment as soon as the virus appeared in Mayotte in mid -March. The DAP claims on the contrary that masks and hydroalcoholic gel were sent from Paris and Reunion "in sufficient quantity". Recently, suits, visors and overshoes have been delivered, according to the DAP.
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Mayotte is one of the departments classified in the orange zone, where the virus continues to circulate. Containment is always a must. In this department of the Indian Ocean, 24 people died, 32 are hospitalized in Mamoudzou and 17 were evacuated to Reunion, according to figures from the beginning of June.