The two repatriations that were scheduled to arrive in Tonga tomorrow, August 25, and next week have been deferred until further notice.

CEO for MEIDECC Paula Ma'u stated today, the only “flight” on August 25 will be a charter bringing 14 passengers from Vanuatu. The MEIDECC website stated the flights from Auckland that were due to arrive on August 25 and in the first week of September had been deferred by Tonga's National Emergency Management and COVID-19 committee, until further notice.

He could not be contacted for further clarification on whether this was just the repatriation passengers or the actual weekly flight itself which usually brings cargo and takes outgoing passengers.

Weekly cargo flights

Meanwhile, outgoing passengers are still expecting the Air New Zealand flights to arrive and take them out of Tonga. “The airline confirmed today and we had our Covid tests,” said one who was preparing to leave.

Businesses were still expecting cargo to arrive tomorrow.

The Ministry of Health was expecting a vaccine shipment from COVAX on tomorrow’s flight.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has extended its lockdown until August 27, due to the COVID-19 delta outbreak there.