First death from Covid-19 in New Caledonia

More than a year and a half after the appearance of the new coronavirus, New Caledonia recorded its first death on Friday September 10, the territory having so far been largely spared from the pandemic. The victim, 75 years old and a resident of an accommodation facility for dependent elderly people (Ehpad), 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.

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The death was announced by the independence president of the government Louis Mapou during a solemn speech in which he invited the population “To mobilization”. “We are facing an unprecedented crisis”, he said, calling on Caledonians to be vaccinated.

30% of the population immune

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 on Thursday. It is very encouraging and we are on the right track. But it is not yet sufficient “, underlined Mr. Mapou.

The territory, which has put in place since March 2020 a strict sanitary lock requiring all arriving to carry out a quarantine in a requisitioned hotel, had so far only recorded imported cases, with the exception of nine cases detected in March. But the spread had been stopped thanks to a five-week lockdown, and no new local cases had been detected until Monday.

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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”.

The World with AFP

www.lemonde.fr

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