French Polynesia Covid Crisis Surpasses Deadly Caribbean Outbreak

The Pacific territory of French Polynesia now reports 2,731 coronavirus infections per 100,000 inhabitants, well beyond the catastrophic figures for the French Antilles territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Less than 30% of French Polynesians have been fully vaccinated.

The staff of the Taaone hospital, in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, were forced to install around 20 beds in the entrance hall of the establishment, currently overwhelmed by a wave of victims of the coronavirus.

The infection rate in the Pacific island chain far exceeds the 1,700 cases per 100,000 reported last week in Guadeloupe and the 1,200 per 100,000 in Martinique, both described as requiring urgent action from the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, during his visit to the West Indies. Last week.

The coronavirus appears to have been banned from French Polynesia, with virtually no local infections reported between March and June.

The Delta variant dramatically changed that picture, with 2,731 reported cases per 100,000 population. As of Wednesday, there were 303 new hospital admissions, 38 to emergency care and 11 deaths.

Schools in the archipelago reopened last week. Some establishments have been forced to close due to the high number of contaminations.

Weekend lockdown and extended curfew

Polynesians are currently subject to weekend lockdown and a 9 p.m. to dawn curfew.

Less than a third of the population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

According to Dr Jacques Raynal, local Minister of Health, “98 percent of people in need of emergency care” have not been vaccinated.

Earlier this month, a wedding party at a Polynesian restaurant brought together hundreds of people – including prominent local figures – in defiance of existing rules and without anyone wearing a mask.

“We were not exemplary and I am very sorry,” said the president of the territory Edouard Fritch, who was seen playing the guitar in images of the holiday which shocked many Polynesians. The mayor of the capital Papeete, Michel Buillard, was pictured singing.

Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean also remains in partial containment, a measure that has sparked protests and led to clashes with security forces.

In contrast, the French overseas territories of New Caledonia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Wallis and Futuna are not currently reporting any cases of Covid.