Kaniva News correspondent Patimiosi Ngūngūtau took this photo of an emotional farewell for a grieving Tongan family at the Tanoa hotel in Nukua’alofa this week.
The family requested that they stop outside the quarantine facility so that her daughter, who was in managed isolation after recently arriving from New Zealand could pay her respects to her mother, Ngūngūtau said.
The daughter can be seen grieving in a quarantine room as family console her from a distance on Tuesday.
A burial service was held after the MIQ farewell at the Pikipeavela cemetery in Haveluloto for the deceased.
The photograph shone a light on the struggles some people in managed isolation face when returning home for a family bereavement.
Tonga has a strict rule of 15-day quarantine at MIQs for repatriates who arrived at Fua’amotu International Airport.
Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku said Tonga had had 287 positive cases since the outbreak.
There were only 133 active cases at present, 57 had recovered and 78 cases had been discharged from MIQs.
One person who had covid died this week but the Minister of Health attributed his cause of death to the person’s underlying medical conditions.
Republished with permission from Kaniva Tonga News.
