French military may help Tahiti Covid-19 response

5:42 am on 5 November 2020

The French military is readying 10 intensive care units for French Polynesia as the number of Covid-19 cases keeps soaring.

French military repatriates French Polynesians from Sydney

French military repatriates French Polynesians from Sydney Photo: supplied FB

The equipment as well as additional staff will be made available once 30 ICUs at the Tahiti hospital are occupied by Covid-19 patients.

26 units are now in use while another 61 Covid-19 patients are in conventional care.

12 nurses from France are due later this week as a staffing boost irrespective of the military's possible involvement.

In the past day, another 303 cases were recorded, raising the total of the pandemic to 8949.

38 people have died.

The health authorities have changed their reporting system and no longer say how many cases are considered active.

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

A curfew is in place to try to curb the spread of the virus, but unlike in France, there is no lockdown.