new restrictions as the epidemic resumes

New restriction measures were announced on Wednesday in Guadeloupe, which had returned to a state of health emergency in the face of the explosion of cases linked to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, now the majority, while tensions persist around the vaccination obligation.

The prefect announced a three-week curfew from 10 p.m., which could be reduced to 8 p.m. if there is no decline in contamination, as well as the ban on picnics by the sea and gatherings of more than 6 people on public roads.

“Moreover, he said, the gauges but also the same rules” as in France now apply.

Guadeloupe, as well as Guyana, Mayotte, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélémy, was placed in a state of health emergency, Wednesday in the Council of Ministers.

According to the epidemiological bulletin updated Wednesday evening (local time), 4,000 positive cases were recorded on Monday and Tuesday, an “exponential” epidemic recovery according to the director general of the ARS of Guadeloupe, Valérie Denux, who specified that “for the moment, this increase in the number of cases is not reflected in the hospital “.

The Omicron variant is now the majority on the island, detected in 82% of positive samples. The Delta variant represents 18%, according to the same source.

In Guadeloupe, resistance to vaccination is still strong, according to figures from the ARS: less than 50% of the population over 18 years of age has received at least one dose of vaccine. On the other hand, vaccination rates among people subject to compulsory vaccination reach more than 95%. Thus, “96% of the staff of the CHU comply with the vaccination obligation,” said one at the hospital.

– “Violent blow to the head” –

Tuesday at the end of the morning, the offices of the management of the hospital of Guadeloupe had been besieged by about fifty militants opposed to the vaccination obligation.

The director of the CHU of Guadeloupe Gérard Cotellon and his two assistants had to be exfiltrated by the police, after having received “blows, insults and jets of urine”, according to their account. “My deputy and I were violently attacked” and “taken to task by a horde of demonstrators very excited, very violent, in word and in action”, said the director, who claims to have received “a violent blow to the head”.

Four complaints were filed and an investigation was opened, the Pointe-à-Pitre public prosecutor told AFP on Wednesday.

The political class and the local authorities unanimously condemned the violence on Tuesday. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal expressed Wednesday at the end of the Council of Ministers “all (his) solidarity” with the director of the CHU, who was “beaten, kidnapped by anti-ax activists”. “It is shameful, it is revolting, it is scandalous, and it is inadmissible in the Republic”, he added.

Before the National Assembly on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran got carried away after accusations about the management of the health crisis Overseas: “We are fighting to save lives” there, he said, adding that “a manager got his face screwed in his office.”

The director general of the ARS Valérie Denux, she blasted in a press release this violence, indicating that “people who have acted thus can no longer qualify as health professionals”.

– “Go until the end” –

“The authors must be identified, found and condemned, just like their sponsors,” wrote the parliamentarians of Guadeloupe in a joint statement. “How can we, in the Republic, tolerate or at least allow violence to be committed against personnel whose only mission is to preserve and save lives?”, They were indignant, refusing “to take the hostage of the country”.

Since July 17, activists against the vaccine obligation and the health pass have been mobilizing every weekend in Guadeloupe. The crisis reached its paroxysm at the end of November when the collective of organizations “in struggle” called for a general mobilization which resulted in roadblocks and the blocking for three weeks of traffic in many points of the Isle.

The fight against the vaccine obligation now only concerns certain demonstrators “determined to go to the end”, according to the leaders of the various organizations, and who maintain sporadic meetings and actions.

A group of organizations, including trade unions and citizens, mostly opposed to the vaccination obligation for nursing staff and firefighters, had thus occupied the hemicycle of the Regional Council of Guadeloupe for nearly 24 hours at the end of December, after having intruded in full plenary session.

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