Analysis of the Epidemiological Situation

• Since the emergence of COVID-19 in early March 2020, a total of 261 confirmed cases have been recorded in Martinique, including 71 since May 13 (the date the new surveillance system was implemented). Of these 71 cases, 59 are imported cases (defined as travel within the 14 days prior to testing) from mainland France, French Guiana, or abroad (Canada, Saint Lucia, and Haiti, among others).

• Positivity rates are declining and have reached very low levels over the past two weeks, below 0.5% (compared to 36% at the end of March).

• Weekly incidence rates continued to decline in week S28 (1.4 per 100,000 inhabitants) compared to weeks S26 (2.8 per 100,000 inhabitants) and S27 (2 per 100,000 inhabitants).

• In primary care, for the past 8 weeks, the proportion of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) seen by doctors in the sentinel network and attributable to COVID-19 has been zero, and the proportion of home visits attributable to COVID-19 and conducted by doctors from the SOS-médecins association is virtually zero;

• Trends in visits to emergency and intensive care units: as in week S27, two visits to adult emergency departments for suspected COVID-19 were recorded in week S28, whereas no cases were recorded in weeks S25 and S26; Three cases of COVID-19 originating from French Guiana were admitted to the intensive care unit over the past three weeks (weeks S26 to S28).

Conclusion: Given the epidemiological context characterized by low viral circulation that is under control due to the management measures implemented, Martinique remains at a limited vulnerability level. No cases or clusters of cases have been detected on the island. The majority of diagnosed cases are individuals with a history of travel prior to SARS-CoV-2 detection during routine testing conducted upon travelers’ arrival. The main risk of a resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic therefore lies in the emergence of one or more transmission chains originating from imported confirmed cases. Increased vigilance must therefore be maintained regarding the monitoring of these new imported cases and the management measures that have so far made it possible to contain the epidemic risk.