Activities being carried out since May 2020

Screening centres dedicated to travellers arriving on the territory on D+7 :

In order to limit the spread of Covid-19 on the territory, the ARS (Regional Health Agency in Reunion Island) strongly recommends that people arriving on the island be screened on D+7 after their arrival on the territory.

Thus, in view of the daily influx of travellers, 3 specially dedicated screening centres have been opened in the towns of Saint Denis, La Saline and Saint Pierre, enabling mass screening, accessible without appointment 6 days a week.

Reception of passengers coming from Mayotte :

On arrival in Reunion Island, passengers arriving from areas with active virus circulation such as Mayotte must comply with a strict seven-day quarantine. Thus, at the request of the ARS, the French Red Cross is mobilising its volunteers alongside the airport teams in order to facilitate the transmission of information and protection measures.

Activities being carried out during the lockdown period

• Training of Red Cross employees and volunteers:
  • • Mini online course for the general public
    • Specialist training for members of the RC/RC Movement on various subjects related to COVID-19 response:
      • • Basic training in protection measures
        • Risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) training
        • Psychological first aid training in the context of COVID-19
• Maintaining French Red Cross core activities:
  • • Food aid : the number of food parcels being distributed has trebled. During lockdown, the French Red Cross handed out almost 5,000 parcels in Reunion, benefiting 13,640 people
    • Emergency social service outreach : deployment of new outreach patrols. During lockdown, 96 patrols were carried out and 150 people were contacted, some of whom were referred to shelters
    • Nursing homes : implementing one-way traffic in a designated area outside the building so that family members can visit residents
    • Healthcare and medical-social facilities: Home nursing care, children’s care homes, guardianship service for unaccompanied minors, day care
    • ‘Red Cross on Wheels’ scheme providing food for people who are socially isolated and excluded

• Social support service: ‘The Red Cross comes to you’ (psychological well-being help line; home delivery of basic necessities and prescription medication) and partnerships with the island’s supermarkets to help set up the service. The system is operating all over Reunion. Since being launched on 6 April, more than 535 boxes have already been delivered throughout the island.

• Reception of airline passengers arriving from mainland France and escort to quarantine centres

• These centres handle airline passengers who are placed in quarantine for 14 days after arrival on Reunion. A dozen Red Cross volunteers are mobilised at these centres.

• Specialised accommodation centre specially for people infected with COVID-19 who cannot be treated at home but who do not need hospital admission, and for contact cases (3 Red Cross volunteers mobilised).

• Delivery of supplies from PIROI’s warehouse to Red Cross facilities

• Dispatch of supplies from PIROI’s warehouse to Mayotte and National Societies