Covid-19: "reassuring figures in New Caledonia"

The figures for the Covid-19 epidemic in New Caledonia, currently in containment after the detection of nine cases outside the fortnight on March 7, are

, the local government spokesman said on Monday March 15.

, declared Christopher Gygès, on the occasion of the daily press conference on the crisis. .

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After remaining one year free from Covid-19, New Caledonia recorded on March 7 its first nine cases of the disease, outside the fortnight, after an introduction of the virus via the health bubble in place with the neighboring archipelago of Wallis and Futuna.

On Monday, New Caledonia had in all 23 cases of Covid-19 outside the fortnight, almost all of which are people recently returned from Wallis and Futuna or having been in contact with them.

No patient is in intensive care.

Containment, with closed schools, came into effect for two weeks on March 9, according to a “zero Covid” strategy inspired by those applied in the two large countries in the region, Australia and New Zealand.

For the past year, a compulsory fortnight in requisitioned hotels has been imposed on anyone arriving in New Caledonia, who can only leave after 2 negative PCR tests.

About 70 cases of Covid-19 have been detected as part of this sanitary lock since March 2020.

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"A considerable acceleration of the vaccination campaign"

is being carried out in parallel by the Caledonian government, whose objective is to achieve 2,000 daily vaccinations in the near future.

To date of the estimated 270,000 inhabitants, 11,104 have received a first dose and 3,355 have had both.

Distant 1,800 kilometers, the archipelago of Wallis and Futuna, to which the Caledonian authorities will send tents, tests and sanitary equipment this week, is experiencing a more worrying progression of the epidemic.

The first patient tested positive on March 6, who is not "patient zero", is in intensive care in Noumea and the number of patients there reached 178 on Sunday evening for about 11,500 inhabitants.

Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced last week that health reinforcements and 18,000 doses of vaccine would be sent to Wallis and Futuna, the French territory furthest from the mainland.