Back to school postponed in overseas territories

In the West Indies, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, as well as in the part of Guyana in the red zone, the start of the school year scheduled for September 2 will be postponed to September 13. The government made this decision on Wednesday, announced its spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, due to the “serious” health situation of the Covid-19 epidemic linked to the Delta variant.

The state of health emergency will be extended “until November 15 in the West Indies, Guyana and French Polynesia,” added Gabriel Attal. These decisions were taken by the Covid Defense Council and the Council of Ministers which “at length” examined “the dramatic situation in several overseas territories, in the West Indies and in French Polynesia, where under-vaccination is wreaking havoc”, said the spokesperson.

High incidence rates

Even if the incidence rate begins to “decline slightly” thanks to “confinement”, the situation “nevertheless remains very serious”, especially in Polynesia where “the incidence rate is colossal” at 2,800 per 100,000 inhabitants and where schools were closed for 15 days. “We are also very vigilant about the situation in Guyana, where the incidence rate which exceeds 400 has increased by 40% in one week”, according to him.

Gabriel Attal insisted on “national solidarity” with the sending of “hundreds of caregivers in reinforcement on the spot to organize evacuations and to guarantee the supply of oxygen”.