Europe 1 with AFP 2:30 p.m., August 25, 2021
While the health situation in the West Indies is still alarming, the government has decided to postpone the start of the school year by ten days in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, as well as in the part of Guyana in the red zone.
The start of the school year will be postponed from September 2 to 13 in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, as well as in the part of Guyana in the red zone due to the "serious" health situation due to the Covid- 19, the government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Gabriel Attal added that the state of health emergency would be extended "until November 15 in the West Indies, Guyana and French Polynesia", with a bill presented "next week".
These decisions were taken by the Covid Defense Council and the Council of Ministers which "at length" looked into "the dramatic situation in several overseas territories, in the West Indies and in French Polynesia, where under-vaccination is wreaking havoc", said the spokesperson.
A "very serious" situation
Even if the incidence rate begins to "decline slightly" thanks to "confinement", the situation "nevertheless remains very serious", especially in Polynesia where "the incidence rate is colossal" at 2,800 per 100,000 inhabitants and where schools were closed for 15 days.
"We are also very vigilant about the situation in Guyana, where the incidence rate which exceeds 400 has increased by 40% in one week", according to him.
Gabriel Attal insisted on "national solidarity" with the sending of "hundreds of caregivers in reinforcement on the spot to organize evacuations and to guarantee the supply of oxygen".