Another 13 people with Covid-19 in French Polynesia have died, raising the death toll to 551.

The pandemic is said to have peaked and the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital has dropped to below 300 for the first time in weeks.

The French High Commissioner Dominique Sorain said there are about a quarter of hospitalisations less than ten days ago, but he said people being brought in are more severely ill and often need intensive care.

A total of 51 patients are in ICUs.

About 200 mainly medical staff flown in from France has helped ease the pressure.

In mid-July, there was no Covid-19 patient in hospital, but a rapid spread of the Delta variant infected up to 3,000 people a day and overwhelmed the hospitals.

The extension had earlier in the week been approved by the National Assembly.

A French Polynesian member of the Assembly Teva Rohfritsch said this extension is needed.

He said vaccinations are picking up again in the face of the many deaths, adding that those spreading fake news also bear some responsibility for the situation.

He said in one weekend in August alone, Covid-19 claimed twice as many lives as there are road accidents in a year.

Also in Paris, a former health minister Agnes Buzyn is being investigated over the way she handled the Covid-19 outbreak last year

She is being probed for allegedly endangering the lives of others, and risks being prosecuted.

Ms Buzyn quit the ministry in February to run for mayor of Paris.