Polynesia will Begin from Saturday and for at least a 14-day measure of containment of the population to fight against the epidemic of Covid-19, announced Friday the representative of the State in French Polynesia, Dominique Sorain. The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Polynesia rose from three earlier this week to fifteen, said Dominique Sorain during a press briefing alongside the Polynesian president, Edouard Fritch.
No deaths have been recorded. “From Saturday, all rallies on the public highway and in the private sphere are prohibited,” he said, also announcing the closure of shops, except for grocery stores, gas stations, bakeries, and pharmacies. “For professional or essential reasons and by scrupulously respecting the barrier gestures”, he underlined. He assured that there would be no shortage in the stores, but many Polynesians immediately rushed into the supermarkets to build up stocks of food.
French Polynesia
French Polynesia has a substantial autonomy, especially in health and education, the measures announced Monday evening by President Emmanuel Macron did not apply automatically. Local authorities on Monday ordered schools to be closed and travelers arriving by plane to be quarantined for 14 days. A series of measures to limit the economic and social repercussions of the epidemic, such as a moratorium on taxes and charges, were also announced on Thursday.
But the trade unions and employers’ organizations demand a minimum solidarity income of 120,000 Pacific Francs (1,000 euros) for confined people who will no longer be able to work, a measure whose cost is estimated at 67 million euros per month of confinement. The geographic spread of the Polynesian islands, the prevalence of diabetes, obesity, and kidney failure, raise fears of a high mortality rate in this community.
The largest local cultural event, the Heiva I Tahiti 2020, scheduled each year in July, has also been canceled, announced Dominique Sorain.