An increase in cases is always to be expected, but not in this proportion.
The health situation in Guadeloupe continues to "deteriorate very strongly" with an "unprecedented number" of intensive care admissions which led the authorities to evacuate patients to the metropolis, announced Friday the prefecture of Guadeloupe and the regional agency of health in a joint statement.
"The incidence rate is alarming with 1,108.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 7 rolling days against 875.6 cases last week", indicates the press release which reports 4,178 new cases recorded in four days.
Last week, it was 3,300. Four people died in Guadeloupe, one in Saint-Martin.
The coronavirus positivity rate also increased to 24.6% for 16,968 people tested.
Currently, 35 clusters are studied.
The last 4 were observed in professional and medical environment.
An epidemic focus also settled in the heart of the Baie-Mahault penitentiary center, with 40 cases.
Medical evacuations to the metropolis
On Thursday, the Pointe-à-Pitre hospital recorded ten additional entries in Covid resuscitation and three entries in non-Covid intensive care, while in recent days, the maximum number of entries in intensive care was four per day. "The acceleration is therefore considerable", insists the press release which specifies that among the patients in intensive care, "none is vaccinated". To date, 45 out of 48 intensive care beds are occupied at the CHU, including 36 for Covid patients. Additional beds will be opened in the coming days but the ARS and the prefecture have all the same triggered medical evacuations to the metropolis. Patients were transferred on Thursday and two are due to be transferred this Saturday.
For Doctor Marc Valette, head of the intensive care unit at the CHU de Guadeloupe, the island "has switched to disaster medicine". "The situation is a crisis situation, of appalling intensity, which we have never known until then," he told AFP, stressing that "the care of Covid patients, who happen to us every day, is to the detriment of other patients who need surgical management or who have chronic diseases ”.
Faced with the outbreak of the epidemic, the regional prefect estimated that the confinement started Wednesday evening and the night curfew were not enough.
He announced the closure of all restaurants from Monday at 8 p.m.
Until now, despite the lockdown, unlike bars, restaurants were open at noon.
Take-out and home delivery will remain possible.
EMPTY.
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