Tonga's 21-month long nighttime curfew will be eased slightly for New Year's Eve, 31 December, when the curfew will commence from 2:00am to 5:00am instead of starting at midnight.

Then during the National Prayer Week 2022 it will commence from midnight to 3:00am to allow more time for people to go to church in the early morning.

Meanwhile, Tonga’s Health State of Emergency has been renewed for another month to prevent the spread of COVID-19, starting from 8:00pm today to 8:00pm 17 January 2022.

The Health State of Emergency was first declared by the PM Hon. Rev Dr Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa on March 12, 2020 under the Emergency Management Act.

Since then, it has been renewed on a monthly basis enforced by the Ministry of Police and His Majesty's Armed Forces.

The Prime Minister stated that the novel coronavirus disease (VOVID-19) was continuing to spread worldwide and in countries near to Tonga.
 “It is still necessary for emergency powers to be exervised in order to prevent or minimize risk and the loss of human life to COVID-19,” he stated.

The Commissioner of the Tonga Police and Chief of the Defence Staff, Brigadier Fielakepa, directed that the national restrictions remain with night time curfews in place from midnight to 5:00am, except for 31 December where the curfew stars from 2:00am to 5:00am, and the national prayer week as follows:

No COVID-19 transmission

Meanwhile, critics of the continuing curfew say it cannot be justified by COVID reasons, because there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Tonga,

It is widely assumed by the public in Tonga that the night curfew is being maintained to reduce the crime rate and to curtail road accidents caused by drinking drivers. The curfew also reduces hospital emergency admissionsand callouts for other emergency services in the early hours of the morning.

People who are caught breaking the curfew are being fined.

The next announcement In January, is expected to be made under the new government led by PM Designate Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni.