French Polynesia has the lowest case fatality rate

Through Damien Grivois
Published on 14 Apr 21 at 9:30

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Compared to other Pacific Island States which for the most part have fewer inhabitants, (La Dépêche, April 6). A special count that does not include Hawaii, New Zealand, or Australia. A fully-fledged American state, Hawaii is in fact taken into account neither in the statistics retained by the Pacific Community (CPS), nor by those of the Pacific Islands Forum (FIP).

In absolute value, since the archipelago has more than 1.4 million inhabitants, it is however logically Hawaii that has the highest number of deaths with 467 lives lost due to the Covid-19 epidemic. .

Since the number of deaths is directly linked to the size of the population, it is interesting to look instead at the case fatality rate, i.e. the proportion of deaths linked to the disease, in order to better understand the performance health facilities of the various archipelagos or island states of the Pacific region. For experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), the real case fatality rate of Covid-19 is between 0.5 and 1% according to studies. In any case, well above the seasonal flu, which sits at 0.1%.

According to WHO figures as of April 7, French Polynesia has the lowest case fatality rate in the region, probably in direct connection with the strength of its health system and the quality of medical care at the Taaone hospital center.

With 0.80% case fatality rate, Tahiti and her islands are ahead of Wallis and Futuna and Papua New Guinea (0.90%).

All the other countries or archipelagos in the Pacific have much higher rates: 1.20% in New Zealand, 1.30% in the Northern Mariana Islands, 1.50% in Hawaii or even 1.80% in Guam. The worst scores are obtained by Fiji (3%, almost four times the case fatality rate in Tahiti) and by Australia (3.10%).

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