Lockdowns in Pacific States Facing First Serious COVID Waves | The Diplomat - Joshua Mcdonald [stress added]:
January 26, 2022 - "Kiribati, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands have entered lockdowns after overseas arrivals brought COVID-19 to the Pacific Island nations, which had largely managed to keep the virus out since the pandemic began.
"After two years COVID-free, Kiribati has recorded its first cases after two-thirds of passengers on the first international flight into the country in 10 months tested positive. The government confirmed that there were 36 positive cases on board but said all passengers on the flight had been quarantined. Just days later, though, cases in the community were detected, leading the government on Sunday to impose a four-day lockdown, including a 24-hour curfew.... The Kiribati government hasn’t announced whether the lockdown will be extended but on Tuesday recorded 23 new positive case[s]....
Samoa has followed a similar trajectory, successfully keeping the virus at bay for the last 24 months, recording just two cases in November 2020 in Samoan citizens repatriated from Australia. The Samoan government announced over the weekend that it had recorded 15 new COVID-19 cases among 73 passengers who arrived on a flight from Brisbane, Australia, a few days earlier.
"The government announced a 28-hour nationwide lockdown, banning all gatherings and requiring people to stay at home.... Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa announced Wednesday that the lockdown would be extended for another 72-hours, after the country recorded an additional 11 cases, including five frontline workers who were caring for the positive cases from the Brisbane flight.
"Solomon Islands has seen the steepest rise in cases among the three, recording 650 positive COVID-19 cases, including 156 new cases on Tuesday alone, after 23 people on a vessel from Papua New Guinea, which entered illegally a fortnight ago, tested positive. The government has imposed a lockdown across the capital, Honiara, warning that police will arrest and charge anyone who breaches it....
"On Tuesday, Health Minister Culwick Togamana announced the country’s first COVID-19 deaths, a 51-year-old female and a 59-year-old male. Togamana warned that cases would continue to rise, with community transmission now widespread across Honiara and in some provincial areas."
Read more: https://thediplomat.com/2022/01/lockdowns-in-pacific-states-facing-first-serious-covid-waves/
Covid-19: Kiribati extends lockdown as 65 new cases recorded | RNZ:
January 28, 2022 - "The Kiribati government has extended its lockdown of South Tarawa, Betio and Buota for another seven days due to a rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. The Micronesian Island nation recorded 65 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of positive infections to 181. There are now 145 local and 36 imported cases.
"The Kiribati government only reopened its border this month with new updated travel procedures. Kiribati closed its international border in March 2020 to keep its population of approximately 140,000 people safe from Covid-19. But the first flight into the country this month, from Fiji, had passengers infected with Covid-19. They were placed in isolation under the new updated travel procedures but the government later confirmed that four cases had been outside of quarantine, leading to a 24 hour lockdown."
Read more: https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/460385/covid-19-kiribati-extends-lockdown-as-65-new-cases-recorded
Tonga goes into first-ever lockdown after five COVID cases | Al Jazeera [stress added]:
February 2, 2022 - "Disaster-hit Tonga has gone into lockdown after detecting its first community transmissions of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The lockdown began at 05:00 GMT on Wednesday, days after the Pacific island nation began receiving foreign aid in the wake of a deadly volcanic eruption that also generated huge tsunami waves around the Pacific.
"While the first of Tonga’s community cases were detected in two port workers in the capital, Nuku’alofa, on Tuesday, officials said the men were not on the docks being used by foreign navies to deliver aid.... The workers showed no symptoms but Tongan radio station BroadcomFM reported on Wednesday another three cases had been detected among three of the workers’ family members ... bringing total case numbers to five. Tonga has previously recorded only one case – in a quarantined traveller returning from New Zealand....
"Tonga Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni told an emergency press conference on Wednesday ... the COVID situation in the country would be reassessed 'every 48 hours', and the government would decide whether to end or extend the lockdown depending on the outcome. The stay-at-home order means all businesses and schools must close, with only essential services allowed to operate."
Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/2/tonga-to-go-on-lockdown-after-recording-two-covid-cases
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