With 54 deaths between Friday and Sunday, the number of daily deaths linked to Covid-19 has further increased in French Polynesia, announced the Department of Health of this overseas collectivity on Monday.

Since the start of the epidemic, three hundred and eleven Polynesians have died from Covid-19, more than half of them in the past three weeks, due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant in a poorly vaccinated population.

Co-morbidities, such as diabetes and obesity, are also very common.

The "more calculable" incidence rate

The Department of Health has identified 7,591 Polynesians currently positive for Covid-19 out of a population of 280,000 inhabitants.

An underestimated number of cases, since most asymptomatic people are not tested.

The local government is indeed focusing the efforts of caregivers on the treatment of patients and vaccination rather than on tests and estimates that the incidence rate, which exceeded 2,800 / 100,000 inhabitants last week, is "no longer calculable ”.

The presidency of French Polynesia, which was a testing center until last week, has been transformed into a vaccinodrome from Monday to Saturday.

The Polynesian islands are under curfew, and the Society Archipelago, the most populous, is confined.

However, numerous exemptions make it possible to maintain a minimum of economic activity.

Saturated hospital services

Two weeks after the start of the school year, all schools, colleges and high schools have closed for at least two weeks. On Monday, teachers began to ensure pedagogical continuity. The Polynesian population is very dispersed and many families have little access to the Internet. The local Ministry of Education fears the dropout of disadvantaged students, as happened during the previous confinement, in 2020.

The University of French Polynesia offered pre-entry meetings for first-year students on Monday, but all classes are scheduled remotely.

Students who wish to do so can however go to the campus to benefit from a good Internet connection.

Saturated, the Hospital Center had to open beds in the offices and in its central hall.

His mortuary is also full and the bodies are placed in refrigerated containers.

Several Tahitian municipalities have reported difficulties coping with the sudden increase in burials.

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  • Covid 19

  • epidemic

  • Coronavirus

  • French Polynesia

  • Polynesia

  • Health