The French government is sending medics and aid to the South American territory of French Guiana amid a surge in virus infections there.
The French military has ferried patients from Guiana, which borders Brazil, to hospitals in the French Caribbean island of Martinique.
The minister for overseas territories, Anick Girardin, traveled to Guiana on Tuesday and promised more aid, saying “the state will be there for you,” according to local broadcaster Guyane 1er.
She said she would discuss the possibility of reimposing confinement measures for the territory’s 300,000 people and canceling upcoming elections to stem the spread.
The R number, which indicates how many people will be contaminated on average by an infected person, is above 2 in French Guiana, according to the national health agency, which called the situation “very worrying.”
Guiana has reported more than 2,500 infections, compared to 161,000 in all of France. The number of virus patients hospitalized in Guiana has been rising steadily in recent days even as the number on the mainland and in other territories steadily falls.
