The Covid-19 pandemic on French Polynesia has claimed another 17 lives as a month-long lockdown is about to enter its third week.
Official figures show for a second day in a row there have been 17 fatalities in hospital, with the total of the pandemic now at 480.
More than 300 died since the beginning of the latest wave in late July.
362 Covid-19 patients are in the territory's hospitals. Of those 46 are in intensive care in Tahiti.
An exterior view of the French Polynesia Taaone Hospital in Papeete. - The coronavirus seemed to have almost disappeared from French Polynesia between March and July. But with the Delta variant, it returned with unprecedented violence, saturating the Tahiti hospital centre within a month. Photo: AFP or licensors
Some of the 84 extra medical staff flown in from France yesterday are being sent to Uturoa on Raiatea, where the hospital is also full.
More support is expected to arrive over the weekend.
Daily updates of test results were stopped being issued late last month after the tally of Covid-19 cases had topped the 40,000-mark.
40 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, and by law, anyone working with the public must get a jab withing two months.
