New Caledonia recorded its first death linked to Covid-19 on Friday, September 10, announced the President of the Government, Louis Mapou, who warned of an "
unprecedented crisis
" in the territory so far largely spared by the pandemic.
Read alsoCovid-19: New Caledonia is reconfigured for 15 days after the discovery of three cases
The victim, 75 years old and resident of an nursing home, had been hospitalized for several days.
This is the very first death from the coronavirus recorded since the start of the pandemic in New Caledonia, which has been in strict containment since September 6 after the discovery the day before of three indigenous cases.
"An unprecedented crisis"
The death was announced by the president of the government Louis Mapou (separatist) during a solemn speech in which he invited the population "
to mobilize
".
"
We are facing an unprecedented crisis
," he said, calling on Caledonians to be vaccinated.
Vaccinodromes open throughout the territory have been stormed by the population since the announcement of the discovery of several indigenous cases.
The vaccination rate remains low in New Caledonia, with around 30% of the population immunized.
“
Five thousand people were vaccinated yesterday (Thursday).
It is very encouraging and we are on the right track.
But this is not yet enough,
”Mapou stressed.
There were no cases since last March
The territory, which has put in place since March 2020 a strict sanitary lock obliging all arriving to carry out a quarantine in a requisitioned hotel, had so far only recorded imported cases, with the exception of 9 cases detected last March. .
Read also Covid-19: vaccination will become compulsory for all adults in New Caledonia
But the spread had been stopped thanks to a five-week lockdown and no new local cases had been detected until last Monday.
In total, the archipelago recorded 117 confirmed indigenous cases on Friday.
About twenty “
active clusters
” have been identified on the archipelago of 271,000 inhabitants and the President of the Government estimated that “
the number of cases would inexorably increase
”.
