Noumea (AFP)
Nine first cases of Covid-19 were detected on Sunday in New Caledonia and strict confinement of two weeks was immediately decreed in this French territory in the South Pacific, one of the few on the planet so far free of Covid-19 .
These cases were identified during investigations carried out due to the detection the day before of the first indigenous case in the archipelago of Wallis-and-Futuna, another French archipelago located 2,200 km further east.
Until now, New Caledonia has been with Wallis and Futuna among the few territories in the world not to have recorded a case of Covid, thanks in particular to compulsory fortnights in hotels requisitioned for anyone arriving.
Only imported cases of the disease had been counted.
There is a health bubble between the two territories so that travelers can circulate freely.
In the current state of investigations, the authorities do not know how the virus entered Wallis and Futuna.
"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.
This patient, who would be a college official, is in serious condition and could be evacuated to the hospital in Noumea, capital of New Caledonia, we learned from concordant sources.
"This is a person who was out of fortnight several weeks ago after testing negative. This person saw a doctor for symptoms and tested positive which means the virus is circulating in the patient. island, "Hervé Jonathan, senior administrator (representative of the State) of Wallis and Futuna, told AFP on Sunday.
Thierry Santa asked "all people who have returned from Wallis-and-Futuna (in New Caledonia) since January 25 to isolate themselves and report themselves by calling 15" (emergency call number) .
Mr. Santa also announced "a strict containment of the population from Monday evening for two weeks with the clear objective of breaking the transmission of the virus while there is still time".
The details of the containment measures will be presented Monday today, but local authorities have already indicated that all schools will be closed and all non-essential activities prohibited.
While 5,210 people received a first dose of vaccine and 1,603 the two doses, Mr. Santa pledged "to accelerate the campaign, the only way to protect himself and the others".
According to a health survey published in 2020, more than 70% of the approximately 11,000 inhabitants of the islands of Wallis and Futuna are suffering from obesity and diabetes is also reaching record levels, making the population particularly vulnerable the virus was to spread.
© 2021 AFP