The government announced on Wednesday the establishment of reinforced containment in Guadeloupe similar to that already applied in Martinique to curb the Covid-19 epidemic, including the closure of restaurants, bars and beaches, said its spokesperson Gabriel. Attal.
“Never on French territory, we had reached such levels of incidence” as those currently experiencing Martinique and Guadeloupe, underlined Gabriel Attal during a press point at the end of the Council of Ministers and the Health Defense Council which had preceded it.
“Strong but necessary measures”
He recalled that “strict confinement had (already) been established to stop the circulation of the virus in Martinique as quickly as possible”, stressing that the prefect had taken a decree the day before “which closes restaurants, bars, access to beaches and certain shops, and lengthens the curfew ”.
“During the Defense Council this morning, we decided to extend these measures to Guadeloupe,” said Gabriel Attal, specifying that they were “strong but necessary measures”. “It is a vital necessity” to “stop the circulation of the virus as quickly as possible”, he added.
The “dramatic situation” of the epidemic in the West Indies
At the opening of the Health Defense Council by videoconference from Fort Brégançon (Var), Emmanuel Macron warned about the “dramatic situation” of the epidemic in the West Indies, where “the increase in contamination is reflected in an explosion of severe forms ”of Covid-19 and saturation of hospitals.
“An emergency scenario is now before us”, this situation “implies the unconditional solidarity of the nation” and offers “the cruel demonstration” that “vaccination is the most effective means” in the face of the virus, underlined the head of state.
Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who arrived in Guadeloupe on Tuesday evening accompanied by a reinforcement of 274 caregivers and 60 firefighters, must detail in the evening with the prefect the terms of this “strict confinement”. He is due to travel to Martinique on Thursday, where tourists have been invited to leave the island.