AKIPRESS.COM - French Polynesia has announced the first case of Covid-19 in Tahiti, the first confirmed case of the coronavirus across the Pacific Islands, Guardian reports.

President Edouard Fritch, said that French Polynesian politician Maina Sage had been confirmed with the virus after returning from Paris on 7 March. Sage is resting at home in self-isolation in Papeete.

French Polynesia, which comprises more than 100 islands, the largest of which is Tahiti, is a French overseas collectivity. Sage is French Polynesia’s representative in the French National Assembly.

During her time in Paris, Sage served on a National Assembly commission with France’s culture minister Franck Riester, who has also been confined in France after contracting Covid-19.

Announcing the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Tahiti, President Fritch reassured people about government plans for monitoring, testing and isolation. He stated, however: “I invite the population to avoid travel outside the country.”

Last month, French president Emmanuel Macron postponed a long-scheduled visit to French Polynesia because of the international health crisis. Macron was due to visit between 16-18 April for a summit with Pacific Island leaders, but his trip has been delayed until later this year.