A first death linked to Covid-19 was recorded this Friday in New Caledonia, so far largely spared by the pandemic, announced the President of the Government, Louis Mapou, who warned of an “unprecedented crisis ” on the territory.
The victim, 75 years old and resident of an nursing home, 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.
Vaccinodromes taken by storm
The death was announced by the president of the government Louis Mapou (separatist) during a solemn speech in which he invited the population “to mobilize”. “We are facing an unprecedented crisis,” he said, calling on Caledonians to be vaccinated.
Vaccinodromes open all over 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 being immunized. “Five thousand people were vaccinated yesterday (Thursday). It is very encouraging and we are on the right track. But this is not yet sufficient, ”said Louis Mapou.
About twenty “active clusters”
The territory, which has put in place since March 2020 a strict sanitary lock obliging all arriving to carry out a quarantine in a requisitioned hotel, had so far only recorded imported cases, with the exception of 9 cases detected last March. .
But the spread had been stopped thanks to a five-week lockdown and no new local cases had been detected until last Monday. 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”.