Caledonians feared a real outbreak of Covid-19, their fears are confirmed.
The coronavirus continues to spread in New Caledonia, causing the death of around ten people a day and the saturation of hospitals.
This weekend, 109 caregivers from the health reserve landed in mainland France to help exhausted teams on the spot.
This contingent reinforces that of 70 caregivers already sent during the previous week.
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Covid-free for more than 18 months, the French archipelago in the South Pacific has been facing an outbreak of cases since September 6, due to the highly contagious Delta variant, which has led it to reconfigure its population.
According to the latest figures released by the local government on Monday, 31 people have died in the past three days, bringing the total to 93, almost all unvaccinated.
An "epidemic of the unvaccinated"
Since the start of the crisis, 6,379 cases have been identified, including 194 in the last 24 hours on Monday, and 52 patients are in intensive care at the Médipôle de Koutio, a territorial hospital center.
The incidence rate of the virus hovers around 800 per 100,000 inhabitants.
“The saturation of our Covid beds is 85 to 95%.
(…) Of the 500 hospital beds, there are 400 Covid beds, which is absolutely colossal, ”observes this Monday on RRB radio Thierry de Greslan, president of the Médipôle establishment medical commission.
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The authorities deplore "this epidemic of unvaccinated", while the vaccination campaign was launched on January 20, long before the introduction of the virus.
Only 30.50% of the population have a complete vaccination schedule and 52% (140,612 people) received the first injection.
The vaccination campaign in slow motion
"The latest figures are not good and we regret that vaccination is slowing down", said on Monday Christopher Gygés, member of the local government at a press conference devoted to the health situation.
While at the start of the epidemic, the number of injections exceeded 5,000 per day, there were hardly more than 683 during the weekend, despite the many vaccination centers available throughout the territory. .
A demonstration against the vaccine obligation, voted on September 3 by local elected officials, gathered on Saturday 2,000 people according to the police and 6,000 according to the organizing collective.
Elected Caledonians of all stripes, loyalists and separatists, deplored that the High Commissioner of the Republic authorized this gathering despite the strict confinement, in force until October 4.