The Villepinte remand center (Seine-Saint-Denis) has 179 inmates positive for the coronavirus, the largest current outbreak of Covid-19 in French prisons, several of which are affected by the new epidemic outbreak linked to the Omicron variant, said Thursday, January 6 the head of the establishment.
Read alsoPrison: behind the walls, the Covid-19 is spreading
“
Today we have 179 people detained who are positive.
We rose to 202 on January 1,
”out of a total of 988 inmates, following a massive screening operation carried out two days earlier, said prison director Michaël Merci, on the occasion of a visit of the establishment.
This screening was organized after the detection of two positive cases on December 22, with the presence of the Omicron variant, which is more contagious, he explained.
621 prisoners agreed to be tested, of which 168 tested positive.
Restrictions on activities and visiting rooms
“
When we learned of the presence of the Omicron variant, we took action immediately
,” says the director. All collective activities (library, sports hall) have thus been eliminated, as has work in the workshops. Full coveralls and FFP2 masks have been distributed to wardens when they are in detention buildings and to inmates who continue to work (laundry room, kitchen, distribution of meals, etc.). positive detainees or contact cases. They are maintained for the others, but with a plexiglass wall over the entire height. For all cases detected on December 30, isolation will end on January 9. Next, "
if within 15 days there is no epidemic resumption, we will be able to reduce
the restrictions ”, hopes Michaël Merci.
The Ministry of Justice is to make a national update Thursday afternoon on the health situation in French prisons.
During the last report communicated, established on December 27, 370 contaminations were counted among the some 70,000 detainees and 448 among the staff (out of approximately 40,000 agents).
