Tongans stuck in countries such as USA and Europe will be allowed to travel and quarantine in New Zealand before they are repatriated to Tonga, confirmed MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma'u today, 25 January.

"Those who wish to return to Tonga from these countries will have to contact New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine [2] (MIQ) to make a booking," he said.

Passengers are to pay for the cost of quarantining in New Zealand.

Paula said that the New Zealand government’s quarantine offer late last year was made to all Pacific Island countries citizens who were stranded overseas.

However no stranded Tongans could use it as MIQ was booked out over the Christmas holidays.

“Some Tongans have already booked MIQ from America in the following months,” confirmed Paula.

Meanwhile, Fiji is also looking at allowing Tongans to also quarantine there before returning to Tonga.

Repatriation flights

More repatriation flights to Tonga are being planned this year from February to June, from Auckland, New Zealand; Brisbane, Australia; and Nadi or Suva in Fiji.

They are scheduled to arrive every three weeks (see table below).

The flights from Australia will be chartered and paid for by fruit pickers employers and will be used to repatriate fruit pickers, as well as other passengers.

Only Tongans from Brisbane and Canberra will be repatriated, due to the status of CoViD-19 in other Australian states.