French Caribbean islands submerged by fourth wave of Covid infections
One inhabitant in fifty on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe has tested positive for coronavirus, while the number of Covid deaths has reached unprecedented proportions on Martinique. Both iislands now face three weeks of strict lockdown. Vaccination uptake in Guadeloupe and Martinique has lagged far behind the national average.
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Faced with an "extremely serious" surge in the number of Covid infections, the authorities on the French overseas territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe have told tourists to leave, and have imposed strict lockdown rules, including an extended curfew.
There are now 1,200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on Martinique, where only 22 percent of the population have received a first vaccine dose.
On Guadeloupe, the Regional Health Agency has reported 1,200 infections per day for the island's 390,000 inhabitants. The Delta variant accounts for three-quarters of those testing positive.
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On Guadeloupe, 31 percent of the adult population have received at least one vaccine dose. The overall French figure was 68 percent on 12 August.
"On these territories the vaccination rate is still very low, a third that of mainland France. Just 20 percent of people over the age of 12 are double vaccinated compared with 66 percent in mainland France," President Macron told a meeting of senior health officials last week.
'Cruel proof' of the value of vaccination
"It is an urgent scenario. If we needed proof that the vaccination is the best response to the Delta variant, unfortunately the Antilles have provided . . . a cruel proof," the French leader told the meeting from his summer residence in the south of France.
Health Minister Olivier Véran has pointed out that the emergency services in both Martinique and Guadeloupe "are full of people who have not been vaccinated. There is not a single vaccinated patient in emergency care in Fort-de-France," the minister said on a weekend visit to the two stricken territories..
Non-essential businesses have been ordered to close, as have hotels, cinemas, museums and beaches. No one is allowed to travel more than one kilometre from home, and people must remain indoors between the hours of 19H00 and 5AM.
The new regulations will remain in force until 1 September.
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