Pacific

Tahiti Covid-19 death toll rises to 53

12:25 pm on 14 November 2020

There has been another fatality in French Polynesia's Covid-19 pandemic, raising the death toll to 53.

98 people are in hospital, including 26 in intensive care.

The number of cases has increased by 221 since yesterday, raising the tally to 11,706.

Masks now compulsory on French Polynesia public transport Photo: supplied

The virus is concentrated on Tahiti but has spread across all archipelagos.

All but 62 cases were detected after the borders were reopened in July and mandatory quarantine requirements were abolished.

A nightly curfew has been in place since late last month and meetings in public are limited to six people.

The President of French Polynesia, Edouard Fritch Photo: AFP

Tahiti's Fritch rejects criticism over Covid-19 management

The French Polynesian president Edouard Fritch has hit back at the opposition's open letter which blamed him for what it called the disastrous management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Eliane Tevahitua of the Tavini Huiraatira said it was on his conscience that more than 11,000 people had contracted the coronavirus and dozens had died.

In an open letter in return, Fritch said her letter was full of hatred and unworthy of an elected member of the assembly.

In July, the government and the French High Commission decided to reopen the border and abolish quarantine requirements to boost the economy, in particular tourism, in a move supported by all mayors.

Fritch said it was an economic necessity to restart tourism, allowing most of the 20,000 people employed in the sector to keep their jobs.

Ms Tevahitua also said after globally recording extremely high levels of diabetes, cancers and obesity, French Polynesia was now almost the worst place in terms of Covid-19 infections.

Fritch said she could not exempt herself from responsibility for the poor health statistics and pointed to the Maldives which he said recorded similar numbers of infections and fatalities.