New Caledonia has eased and extended its Covid-19 restrictions for another three weeks after they were originally due to be lifted over the weekend

A night-time curfew will remain in force and discotheques will remain shut.

However, theatres reopened on Saturday for those with a health pass showing they are vaccinated.

From today, professional meetings, concerts, exhibitions and marriages are allowed to go ahead, provided those attending have a health pass.

Family gatherings as well as church meetings are also allowed to resume but may not exceed 30 participants.

The restrictions also cover the weekend of December 12th when New Caledonians are called to the polls for a referendum on independence from France.

Calls by mainly Kanak groups to postpone the plebiscite until next year because of the pandemic have been dismissed, prompting pro-independence parties to ask their supporters not to vote.

Wallis and Futuna adds local quarantine

Travellers arriving in Wallis and Futuna now have to go into a three-day quarantine at a local hotel following last week's Covid-19 scare.

A week ago, a Covid-19 case was detected among the passengers of the first flight from New Caledonia since the border reopened this month.

However, after the individual was transferred to the hospital in Futuna, it turned out that the test on arrival had yielded a false positive.

The 75 passengers on that flight had spent seven days in pre-departure quarantine in Noumea and returned negative tests.

Authorities react to Covid-19 community outbreak Photo: FB French Prefect Wallis and Futuna

The new regime in Wallis will still require the pre-departure quarantine in New Caledonia.

The territory had lost its only external airlink in September when New Caledonia went into lockdown over a fresh Covid-19 community outbreak.