Some 43 new cases have been reported since Saturday. The virus has been reintroduced by tourists, but also by officials.
The French Polynesia has experienced a sudden increase in the number of positive cases Covid-19 in three days, admitted by press release on Tuesday morning the presidency of the community. Some 43 new cases have been reported since Saturday, and a long queue stretched Monday to Papeete in front of the Institut Louis Malardé, which carries out the tests and their analysis. A new concern for this territory, so far untouched by the epidemic, with sixty cases between march and July. This overseas collectivity has elsewhere been no fatalities associated with this virus.
the announcement of the first cases in march, Polynesia, had taken prompt measures of protection : containment and the closure of the airline for several months, and a curfew for several weeks.
imported cases
But the local economy depends on tourism, and the government has chosen to reopen their lines to european and american markets in mid-July, without imposing quarantine. All passengers, however, must submit a negative test prior to boarding, and to perform a self-sampling four days after their arrival. The virus has been reintroduced by tourists, but also by public servants : each year, a portion of the teachers and the gendarmes are replaced by new arrivals.
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The clusters are restaurants which have been organized festive evening activities, but several cases have also been detected among the nursing staff of the hospital center of French Polynesia. Tahiti, the island is the most inhabited, is the most affected, but there are also cases in Bora Bora, Moorea and Rangiroa.
Wrath of the population
According to the presidency, among the 50 cases detected in the last few weeks, “only 10 have been contaminated abroad, and 38 cases were contaminated locally”. For the other two positive cases, “no epidemiological link” could not be detected.
The back-to-school must take place this week in French Polynesia. The local government has not announced restrictions on rallies for the time being. However, some sports federations, such as rugby, have already suspended their workouts and their competitions.
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“Covid-19”, the new coronavirus
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The authorities have been slow to communicate these positive cases, causing the anger of a part of the population on the social networks. The president Edouard Fritch was traveling government in Rangiroa, an atoll of the Tuamotu archipelago. The high commissioner Dominique Sorain, the highest authority of the State, is on vacation on the Aranui, a cruise ship, where was landed as a suspected case.
