The number of covid-19 community cases in Tokelau has surpassed 50 and has now cropped up on all three atolls.

The Ulu o Tokelau, or head of government in Tokelau, Kelihiano Kalolo, has announced the territory’s first community outbreak in Fakaofo atoll.

An entire village has been tested after a man who visited Fanuafala hospital tested positive.

• READ MORE: Other Tokelau covid reports

After the positive test, the doctor there decided to conduct a screening of the whole village.

The screening confirmed 15 community cases, as of July 11.

The latest case tested positive after arriving in Nukunonu, the largest atoll in Tokelau.

The latest Tokelau Health Department update shows 56 cases on Fakaofo, the second-largest atoll of the group.

Atoll at outbreak centre
This is the atoll at the centre of the first outbreak.

There is currently one covid case in Nukunonu and none in Atafu, though there have been five cases at the border since the end of last year.

There have been 80 cases in total in Tokelau since the virus arrived at the border in December last year.

The government’s General Fono meeting is to be held over Zoom this month because of the outbreak.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Cook Islands has reported the country’s first covid-19 pandemic death.

The 63-year-old woman died on the way to hospital on the island of Aitutaki, Prime Minister Mark Brown said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“It is with great sadness that I announce that we have recorded our first in-country death attributed to covid-19,” Brown said.

• READ MORE: First covid-related death recorded in Cook Islands
• Covid-19 update: 5662 new community cases, nine further deaths reported in New Zealand

“The deceased was a 63-year-old woman on the island of Aitutaki.

“She had had all three anti-covid vaccinations, but also had several serious underlying health conditions.”

“It is tragic, but not unexpected that we might lose someone to covid.

“I, together with Te Marae Ora [Ministry of Health], am sending our condolences to the family who have just lost a loved one, our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time and the people of Aitutaki.”

4727 total cases
Rarotonga reported 73 new cases of covid-19 in the 24 hours to this morning, while Aitutaki reported 43 cases.

The Cook Islands has had a total of 4727 cases, 3990 of whom have recovered.

The islands had their first case of covid-19 detected only in February, far later than much of the world.

The Cook Islands News reports that Health Secretary Bob Williams warned: “While most cases can be treated at home if matters deteriorate, people should not hesitate to seek medical attention.

“Earlier intervention might have prevented this tragedy.

“This is a very serious illness which has claimed many millions of lives around the world. covid-19 can be a deadly disease — particularly for elderly people, and those with underlying pre-existing health issues.

“I want to reinforce our plea to people to take the precautions we’ve been talking about for the last two years.

“Sanitise, wear a mask and get tested or to quickly alert the covid-19 response teams on each island should you develop symptoms.”

In New Zealand, the Ministry of Health today reported 5562 new community cases of covid-19 — the lowest in two months — with nine further deaths, taking the total to 674.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A roundup today of the covid-19 pandemic status around the Pacific.

Nauru
President Lionel Aingimea has announced that Nauru has recorded its first two covid-19 cases, which were detected in quarantine.

In a public address, the President assured the community that the two cases were safely contained in quarantine. As such, Nauru remained safe and there was no cause for anyone to panic.

The two cases both travelled on the same flight, from Brisbane on March 31.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 outbreaks in the Pacific

“Both people are well and do not have any symptoms and are being cared for by the medical team in the covid ward,” President Aingimea said.

Two other people were also being quarantined in the Covid Ward. One of them is the spouse of one of the cases, and they had travelled together.

The hospital laboratory has detected low levels of virus in this person which appeared to be decreasing.

The fourth person had a borderline result on April 1. They were put in isolation in the Acute Ward. This person tested negative yesterday but will remain under observation for now.

Samoa
Samoa’s Ministry of Health has confirmed 245 new community cases in a 24 hour period.

The ministry said 583 people had recovered and 1493 remained active cases.

Upolu island still has the majority of cases with 97 percent.

The ministry also said that covid-19 infections were significantly higher among those aged from 15 to 35, but infections among children aged 4 and below were also increasing.

Four new border cases were recorded on a flight from New Zealand on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, the community cases were of the BA1 sub lineage of the omicron covid variant.

Samoa also recorded its first covid-related death this week.

Kiribati
The Kiribati government has extended its curfew for another four weeks.

The Office of the President said the new curfew order was intended for South Tarawa, Betio, Buota, North Tarawa, Abaiang, Marakei, Maiana, Aranuka and Abemama.

Travel from Tarawa to the covid-free outer islands will also resume, but with strict safety procedures in place.

The government has also allowed church services to resume, but face masks will be mandatory.

A Parliament session will be convened, as planned, and gatherings outdoors remain limited to 20 people.

According to the WHO, Kiribati has had 3066 cases in total and 13 covid-related deaths.

Tonga
Tonga’s lockdown restrictions are easing. Restaurants and food outlets are opening for the first time in two weeks, but with only takeaway options allowed.

According to new lockdown rules introduced by Tonga’s government, businesses can operate between 5am to 8pm until Monday.

Since March 20 most Tongan businesses, including all shops and gas stations, had only been allowed to open on Saturdays.

However, bars and liquor stores will still be prohibited from opening.

The owner of the Billfish Restaurant and Bar in Nuku’alofa, Robert Sullivan, said that bars had been totally ignored.

“Bars have not even been mentioned. We’ve closed since February 2. So bars have not been open since then in Tonga, and any bars and all their employees will be struggling quite a lot right now because we still have bills, we still have rents, we still have the products that we’ve already purchased,” Sullivan said.

The majority of bars are still trying to pay their staff we’ve what they have, and this can’t continue.”

Tonga has been in lockdown since February 2 and a border closure has been in effect since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The Minister of Health, Saia Piukala, announced this week that six covid-19 deaths had been recorded in the kingdom, and that more than 6000 Tongans had tested positive for covid-19.

New Caledonia
A total of 15 new cases of covid-19 have been recorded in New Caledonia, since Thusday afternoon.

The covid-19 death toll remains at 311.

Nine people are in hospital and 1 person is in ICU.

Sixty six percent of the population is vaccinated.

French Polynesia
One new covid-19 related death has been recorded in French Polynesia, bringing the total number of deaths since December last year to 11.

The total number of active cases over the territory is 381, and 123 new cases of covid-19 have been detected.

Four people are in hospital and one person is in ICU.

Eighty percent of the population is vaccinated.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Samoa’s total number of active covid-19 cases has increased to 196 with the government confirming 192 cases in Upolu and 4 cases in Savai’i.

The Government Press Secretariat’s community transmission update, which was distributed to the local media today, advised that health authorities had identified 85 new community cases by 2pm Sunday.

The new community cases, when added to the 15 imported active cases, pushes Samoa’s total active cases to 196.

• READ MORE: Other Samoa public health reports

The Ministry of Health confirmed that a total of 2207 tests were carried out since 18 March 2022 in six designated covid-19 screening sites, in addition to tests conducted at health facilities.

Out of the 181 active community cases reported, 62 positive cases were confirmed from the six screening sites with 119 cases confirmed in health facilities.

The Red Cross Headquarters at Tuanaimato screening site has so far recorded the highest percentage of positive cases at 47 percent of total covid-19 positive cases confirmed, according to the Press Secretariat.

The ministry has also identified 428 close contacts who are currently under investigation.

Summary of cases
A summary of the statistics provided by the Press Secretariat is that there are 192 active cases in Upolu and 4 in Savai’i with both Manono-Tai and Apolima-Tai still recording zero cases since the first community case was recorded last Thursday.

Current active imported cases stand at 15 (including 3 frontline workers); active community cases total 181; while those currently in the isolation ward at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital at Moto’otua total 11.

According to the Press Secretariat update, there are currently no covid-19 positive cases in the national hospital’s intensive care unit.

The number of community cases are expected to increase following the detection of the country’s first community case last Thursday.

The authorities are yet to ascertain where the individual picked up the infection, as she has been a resident in Apia and did not travel abroad after her arrival in Samoa.

On Saturday, the ministry uploaded an instructional video onto its official Facebook page to show families how they could safely manage home isolation for a family member who tested positive for covid-19 in their own homes.

Impact being felt
The publishing of this instructional video confirmed Samoa’s health apparatus was beginning to feel the impact of the rise in covid-19 cases and now sees home isolation as an alternative to managed isolation in hospitals.

Lalomanu District Hospital’s first community case, which was recorded on Saturday when a man went in and got tested to return positive results, is now in isolation at home with his family which include children.

Staff at the district hospital told the Samoa Observer that he got sick and began to show symptoms of covid-19 after his return to the village from Apia the previous weekend.

Alexander Rheeney is an editor (development) with the Samoa Observer. Republished with permission.

Pasifika people are making up about half of the cases in the current outbreak of the omicron variant in Aotearoa New Zealand.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health is urging the Pacific communities in New Zealand to receive their booster vaccination to protect themselves against the virus.

Pacific health director Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone said that in the past few days there had been a big increase in the positive cases of covid-19 in Pacific communities.

• READ MORE: Police act against NZ protester vehicles but admit towies unwilling to help
• Covid-19 daily community case numbers hit 1160 as omicron outbreak grows
• Cooks testing continuing in wake of first covid case
• Other Pacific covid reports

The ministry reported 1160 new community cases of covid-19 in New Zealand today — the first time the number of daily cases has surpassed 1000.

There is a total of 56 people in New Zealand hospitals with the coronavirus, none in intensive care. The average age of the current hospitalisations is 65.

There were also 43 cases at the border today, with travellers arriving from India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, UAE, UK and USA.

Yesterday, 744 new community cases of covid-19 were reported in New Zealand.

Big increase for Pacific
“What we’re seeing over the last few days is quite a big increase in the cases for Pacific and we did anticipate this — it’s what we’ve seen internationally,” said Clifford-Lidstone.

“At the moment, about 50 percent of the cases are Pacific people and mainly in the Auckland region.”

As the country begins phase two of the omicron response, Clifford-Lidstone said the impacts that omicron would have on the community was anticipated.

“We’ve been preparing for omicron and the Pacific community impact of it since very early in January once we realised that this was going to have a significant impact,” Clifford-Lidstone said.

“The risks for Pacific are always going to be very high, and this is mainly because we’ve got higher rates of comorbidities, so long-term conditions,” she said.

“We tend to have multi-generational and multi-family households, and we’re likely to be in employment where there are essential worker roles and face barriers to accessing healthcare.

“Whether it’s delta or omicron, these are consistent right across when we’re talking about covid and the impact on Pacific.”

Booster shot prolongs protection
Clifford-Lidstone said the booster shot would prolong coverage and protection against the variant.

“We’re at 97 percent for the first dose, and for the second dose we’re at 95 percent. But many of these people will now be eligible for the booster shot and, unfortunately, we’re only down at 48 percent across the country.”

Clifford-Lidstone said the decision to move New Zealand into phase two was about “flattening the curve”.

“What we’ve seen now is a lot more widespread community transmission, so it’s reducing the sizes of gatherings, using masks in stores and just generally a different approach to try to manage things.”

The impact of last year’s lockdown has meant fewer Pacific people — particularly in Auckland — were getting tested.

Clifford-Lidstone said there was a growing sense of “fatigue” among the community which had spent almost four months in lockdown.

“As I understand it, there is an increasing feeling that people don’t want to get tested because they don’t want to be self-isolating,” she said.

“But the thing is, this is the only way that we can get an understanding of how widespread this is and so encouraging people to go and get tested is very important.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Pasifika people are making up about half of the cases in the current outbreak of the Omicron variant in New Zealand. https://t.co/jIl1luBgmU

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) February 16, 2022