Isolated Pacific islands hit by Covid-19 outbreaks

For more than two years the isolation of the Pacific archipelago nation of Tonga helped keep COVID19 at bayBut last monthrsquos volcanic eruption and tsunami brought outside deliveries of desperately needed fresh water and medicine mdash and the virus Now the country is in an openended lockdown which residents hope will help contain the small outbreak and will not last too longldquoWe have pretty limited resources and our hospitals are pretty smallrdquo Tongan business owner Paula Taumoepeau said Friday ldquoBut Irsquom not sure any health system can cope We are lucky wersquove had two years to get our vax rate pretty high and we had a pretty immediate lockdownrdquoTonga is one of several Pacific countries to experience their first outbreaks over the past month All have limited health care resources and there is concern the remoteness that once protected them may now make helping them difficult The nation of 105000 had reported one case of COVID19 mdash a Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints missionary returning to the island from Africa via New Zealand who tested positive in October mdash and authorities debated whether to let international aid in They decided they had to but despite strict precautions unloading ships and planes from Australia New Zealand Japan Britain and China two Tongan men who worked at the capitalrsquos Queen Salote Wharf handling shipments tested positive on TuesdayldquoTonga is just out of luck this yearrdquo said Samieula Fonua chairman of Tonga Cable Ltd that owns the sole fiberoptic cable connecting the nation to the world ldquoWe desperately need some good newsrdquoThe Solomon Islands reported its first community outbreak on Jan 19 With only 1137 of its population fully vaccinated the virus has been spreading rapidly with the Red Cross reporting that less than two weeks later there are now more than 780 recorded cases and five related deaths Fiji mdash still reeling from Cyclone Cody in early January mdash has been battling a spike in cases fuelled by omicron and cases have been reported for the first time in Kiribati Samoa and Palau Bali reopens to foreign travellersDirect international flights to Bali have resumed for the first time in two years as Indonesia opens the resort island to foreign travellers from all countries but mandatory quarantine remains in place for all visitorsSpain to drop masks outdoorsSpain will end a mandate to wear masks outdoors next week reversing a late December order against an unprecedented surge of infections fuelled by the highly contagious Omicron3015863 No of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours383509779 Total no of cases worldwide5693824 Total no of deaths worldwideThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever