5 Apr 2020

Covid-19 cases continue to climb in Pacific

10:12 am on 5 April 2020

The number of people with Covid-19 in the Pacific continues to climb with French Polynesia hitting 40 cases, Guam now over 90 and the US state of Hawai'i suffering its third coronavirus death.

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Photo: supplied

In the last day, another person tested positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia.

However the number of carriers in hospital was unchanged at one.

In the US territory of Guam six positive tests have taken the number of cases there to 93.

Four people have died there, two confirmed this weekend.

The official count for the territory does not include the more than 155 cases that are reported to have occurred on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is docked in Guam.

Earlier the commander of the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier was stood down after he issued a memo pleading for help from Washington D.C., one which quickly became public.

Meanwhile the US state of Hawai'i suffered its third death from Covid-19 with an elderly O'ahu resident, who had been hospitalised in critical condition on life support for several weeks after travelling to Washington, the latest to die from the virus.

Hawai'i currently has at least 319 cases.

New Caledonia back at 18 cases

New Caledonia's tally of Covid-19 cases is again reported to be 18.

Another case had been recorded after the retesting of a separate presumed carrier returned a negative result.

For a day the number of confirmed cases had dropped to 17.

The president of New Caledonia, Thierry Santa.

The president of New Caledonia, Thierry Santa. Photo: RNZ / Jamie Tahana

Meanwhile, the president Thierry Santa has moved into self-isolation after a member of his crisis management team tested positive for the coronavirus.

On Friday, the president of the Southern Province Sonia Backes said one of her close work associates tested positive to the Covid-19 virus and was in hospital.

Ms Backes said she had also been tested and the result was negative.

Fiji with 12 Covid-19 cases

Over the weekend Fiji recorded five cases of Covid-19, bringing its total to 12.

Two of the new cases included a 20-year-old woman from Nadi who had returned from New Zealand on 22 March and a 39-year-old woman from Lautoka who is linked to the country's first case.

The other three cases are all linked to the Suva couple who tested positive to the coronavirus on Thursday.

All five patients were stable and isolated in hospital.

Fiji Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, appealed for the public to adhere to a nationwide curfew and city lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Fiji's PM, Frank Bainmarama gives the a Covid-19 update, with Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho behind him

Frank Bainmarama with Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho behind him during a press conference in Suva. Photo: Fiji Govt