Chartered flight for 141 seasonal workers arriving Friday [1]
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 18:48. Updated on Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 18:49.
A total of 141 seasonal workers will be repatriated to Tonga from Christchurch, New Zealand, on a chartered flight on Friday, 9 October, confirmed MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma'u last night.
The chartered flight is being funded by the seasonal workers employers.
The passengers will be quarantined for 14 days at Makeke Camp in Vaini, and at Taliai Camp at Fua'amotu.
Paula said the same terms and conditions apply as with previous repatriation flights.
Passengers are required to test negative to CoViD-19 before boarding the flight. They will be tested again after they arrive in Tonga and again on the 14th day of quarantine before they are released to spend a further seven days in home quarantine.
Meanwhile, plans are underway for a repatriation flight from Auckland, New Zealand, as well as Brisbane, Australia, by the end of the month.
To date, 278 people have been repatriated to Tonga from Fiji, New Zealand, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, as well as one person who disembarked from a fishing vessel.