Polynesia closes its schools and tightens its confinement for two weeks – LCI

It’s a new turn of the screw in Polynesia. From Monday 23 August and until Monday 6 September, strict containment will be applied on most of the islands of the archipelago and schools will be closed. “We have decided to limit as much as possible (…) the displacement of the population in the most affected areas” and this for “two weeks from Monday“, for his part said Friday (Saturday in Paris) the High Commissioner Dominique Sorain, while the incidence rate reached 2,800 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Polynesia, the highest rate in France.

Concretely “the traffic ban becomes, temporarily, the rule”, with an obligation of attestation to justify a series of exemptions: going to work and training, receiving treatment or vaccinations, assisting a vulnerable person, making essential purchases, etc.

Non-essential goods shops, leisure activities, restaurants and bars “will have to temporarily cease their activity” and “leisure travel will be temporarily suspended”, he added.

In addition, the curfew, which ran from 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., “will be brought forward to start at 8:00 p.m. throughout the territory of French Polynesia”, added Mr. Sorain.

The restrictions will apply to the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands, the most populous archipelagos in Polynesia where “the epidemic is the most dazzling”, recalls the High Commissioner. On the other hand, confinement only on weekends is maintained on the islands concerned in the Tuamotu Gambier. The Marquesas, like the Austral Islands, are not affected by these new measures.

Regarding schools “we will close our first and second level schools, while ensuring the educational continuity of our children in primary and secondary, from Monday “, said President Edouard Fritch. Indeed, “the spread of the Delta virus within our schools over the last two days requires a strong reaction from us”, he added, noting nearly 40% of student absenteeism in primary and nearly 30% in secondary.

Polynesian students returned to school two weeks ago, but many schools and colleges have already closed after the virus spread among children or teachers.

To cope with the epidemic, the Assembly of French Polynesia voted the vaccination obligation, in particular for caregivers and people in contact with vulnerable groups, as well as for patients with long illness.