Key Points

• Circulation of the virus responsible for COVID-19 remains relatively low in the region. Last week, an average of 15 cases were confirmed each day.

• The incidence rate rose slightly to 37 cases per 100,000 residents, as did the positivity rate, which stood at 3.2%. The testing rate remained stable at 1,155 tests, compared to 1,151 tests in week 09.

• New hospitalizations and ICU admissions remained stable last week, with 9 new hospitalizations (4 in the ICU), compared to 13 hospitalizations (1 in the ICU) in Week 9. No deaths occurred in Week 10.

• As of March 16, the effective reproduction number (R_eff) for confirmed cases was estimated at 1.39 [1.14–1.67], a slight increase compared to last week.

• As of March 17, 6,495 people had been vaccinated in French Guiana. Vaccination coverage for those aged 75 and older stands at 13.7% in French Guiana. The medium-term goal of the vaccination campaign in French Guiana is to achieve high vaccination coverage among those over 50, and especially among those with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, overweight, or obesity, which can lead to severe forms of COVID-19. As of February 14, vaccination has been expanded to all healthcare workers and everyone aged 50 and older in French Guiana.

• Genomic surveillance of variants in French Guiana: since the start of surveillance, analyses and epidemiological investigations have detected:

  • 18 cases of the 20I/501Y.V1 variant (United Kingdom)

  • 27 cases of the 20J/501Y.V3 variant (Brazil)

These epidemiological investigations suggest the onset of local circulation of the V1 and V3 variants in French Guiana, while these variants are already circulating widely in Europe and South America.