Tahiti

Tahiti hospital appeals to Macron

Almost 300 COVID-19 patients are in the main hospital in Papeete, with many others being cared for at home because there are no beds left.

Although France and New Caledonia sent some personnel, the hospital says it needs reinforcements as infection rates remain high.

In a post, the hospital reminded Mr Macron of his visit to the hospital in last month when he said they were all part of France and they would all be protected.

Tahiti COVID-19 outbreak claims another 17 lives, spreads to 45 islands

Figures released by the health ministry show 340 COVID-19 patients are in hospital, 55 of them in intensive care.

However, for a second consecutive day the government has withheld test results.

Daily new case numbers were lately more than 1,000 and on last officials count, the tally of the pandemic had breached the 40,000-mark.

So far the pandemic has claimed 370 lives and according to a local epidemiologist, 14 percent of them had been fully vaccinated.

Hospitals are at capacity and additional medical personnel are being brought in from France.

Tahiti high school ordered to shut because of Covid-19

Christelle Lehartel said the Diademe High School will close after classes today and remain shut until the All Saints holidays.

External students who are boarding will be allowed to stay.

38 students, who have Covid-19 symptoms, are awaiting tests.

As of yesterday there were more than 1300 active Covid-19 cases in French Polynesia, with more than 200 new infections being recorded every day.

     

Tahiti's second Covid-19 wave now affects 420

The latest figures showed 10 people were in hospital, including two in intensive care.

The new outbreak has affected seven times more people than the first Covid-19 wave from March to June.

Covid-19 began to spread again after the government last month opened the border to boost tourism and abolished quarantine requirements for arriving travellers.

According to the government, about a dozen cases concerned tourists while the vast majority was the result of local transmission.

Four detained in Tahiti meth probe

Media reports said they were suspected of importing two kilogrammes of the banned drug in November.

Their arrest is linked to an investigation triggered by last September's arrest of a 44-year-old man, who on arrival at Tahiti's international airport was found to have 5.5 kilogrammes of methamphetamine in his luggage.

The drugs were concealed inside boxing gear.

The four detained Tuesday can be held for up to four days without charges being laid.

 

     

Tahitians rally against injustice

It was organised by the community organisation Nunaa a ti'a, with two separate groups walking from either side of Papeete to the square outside the territorial assembly.

The event was attended by nuclear test veterans groups, union members as well as supporters of the mayor of Faaa Oscar Temaru who this month took the public prosecutor Herve Leroy to court over the seizure of his savings.

The case is due in court on Monday where Mr Temaru wants a preliminary ruling on the legality of Mr Leroy's action.

More residents repatriated to Tahiti after Covid-19 wait in France

The French High Commission said the chartered Air Tahiti Nui plane carried, apart from freight, returning residents and members of mobile police squad who would be quarantined in the barracks.

Four more such flights are planned until the end of June when scheduled airline services are expected to resume.

Hundreds of residents remain stranded in France, with no additional plans to accelerate their return.

Meanwhile, the government eased restrictions on the sale of alcohol so designated wine shop and liquor outlets can open except for Sunday afternoons.

29 Covid-19 cases on Ecuadorian ship off Tahiti

The ship, the Charo, which had been at sea for a month, had anchored in an uninhabited bay off Nuku Hiva yesterday where doctors tested all sailors.

One of the crew was flown by the French military from Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas to the main hospital in Tahiti in an operation which also involved the urgent medical aid service, SAMU, and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Tahiti.

A government statement said the patient, who was described as a suspected Covid-19 case, was put on reanimation and kept in isolation to protect other patients.

Tahiti call to revisit alcohol sale ban

A group working against domestic violence in Tahiti has raised its concerns in a letter to the president Edouard Fritch and the French High Commissioner Dominique Sorain, saying the ban has unintended consequences.

After widespread partying in defiance of restrictions, the sale of alcohol was stopped in late March for two weeks but the ban has been extended until the end of the curfew on 29 April.

The ban was also justified as a measure to reduce violence within the family.

Frozen shark find in Chinese ship in sanctuary alarms Tahiti group

In the letter, the Mao Mana Foundation asked for clarification after the French High Commission reacted to the incident by saying no foreign ship was engaged in fishing activities in French Polynesia's waters.

French Polynesia was the world's largest shark sanctuary and by law it was forbidden to possess or transport protected species, be they dead or alive.