Covid-19: the state of health emergency declared in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Mayotte, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy

Omicron will not have spared the islands. The government has declared a state of health emergency in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Mayotte, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, overseas territories where “Under the effect of the Omicron variant, the circulation of Covid-19 is experiencing a considerable increase”, according to a decree presented this Wednesday in the Council of Ministers.

The text states that “given the hospital capacities of these territories and the vaccination coverage of their population, the current epidemic wave of Covid-19 constitutes a health disaster endangering (…) the health of the population”.

In Guadeloupe for example, on January 4, the incidence rate, an indicator that is used to measure the circulation of the epidemic, is 1,820, up 549% over the last seven days, according to the decree. The department and region, hit hard in July-August by the fourth wave of Covid-19, has been shaken for a month and a half by a social protest, in particular against the vaccination obligation of caregivers and firefighters.

Only 40% of the island’s population received at least one dose of vaccine at the end of 2021, and 31% that of Guyana. In Mayotte, it’s a little better: 56%. “With this level of vaccination coverage, the risks of developing serious forms of the disease are greatly increased and could quickly lead to saturation of hospital structures in the various territories concerned”, notes the text presented to the Council of Ministers.

Hospital pressure is already “very strong in Guyana, where the occupancy rate of resuscitation beds is greater than 190% of the initial capacity”. He is “close to 80%” in Guadeloupe, “even though the situation in France”, hit by the Omicron wave, “significantly limits the capacity to send reinforcements or the organization of medical evacuations”.

State of health emergency declared “will allow the prefects to take measures to ban travel outside the home”, indicates the text.

Réunion and Martinique have been in a state of health emergency since December 27. The bill transforming the health pass into a vaccine pass, which was postponed this Wednesday postponed to January 11 in the Senate, provides in particular to extend the state of health emergency until March 31, 2022 in Martinique, and to declare it until ‘on the same date in Reunion. On this island, the regional prefect, Jacques Billant, has already announced on December 29 the establishment of a curfew from January 1 from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m., for three weeks.