This month the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 as no longer a public health emergency of international concern.

CEO of Tonga's Ministry of Health, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola, told Matangi Tonga that the WHO declaration on 5 May followed a significant drop in deaths and hospitalizations worldwide, and a high level of immunity to the virus.

"The virus on the other hand is still circulating in an endemic fashion, but posing no major health issue to the public. We have had two cases (with few symptoms) in the week ending on 28 April and one case in week ending on 5 May. With no further hospitalizations due to covid19 or death."

He said reflecting on lessons learned, Tonga did very well in preparing itself for the pandemic through high vaccination coverage, including booster doses.

"This high coverage was achieved before Covid-19 entered the country. Vaccination hesitancy was very low in Tonga thanks to community support, effective risk communication efforts and general positive attitude of Tongan population to vaccination efforts. Evidence of the effectiveness of vaccination coverage was a low death rate due to Covid-19."

He said the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Finance, and collaboration with development partners were effective and timely. This included access to  training offered by WHO, SPC and others, among significantly increased donations through technical assistance, equipment, consumables and other logistical support provided by DFAT, MFAT, ADB, WB, PRC, the Japanese Government, Spanish Government, Indian Government and others.

“The leadership by Government through National Emergency Management Committee was effective,” he said.

The Ministry of Health team, both public health and clinical teams worked exceptionally well as a team, together with key stakeholders to strengthen preparedness and response. He said they focused on strengthening port of entry requirements/quarantine, developed laboratory capacity, strengthened infection/protection/control, surveillance and rapid response, case management, risk communication and community participation and providing logistical support.

“The support to our vaccination team and public health team by church leaders and community leaders were critical in pushing members of respective churches to keep and comply with social distancing requirements and wearing PPEs, and to get vaccinated against Covid-19,” he said.

"The result was that 97% of all eligible people in Tonga had at least one shot of Covid-19 vaccine. This was a tremendous success indeed. Only 3% did not have any vaccination due to one reason or another, but as compared to other overseas countries - all Tongan people did very well and should be congratulated for this achievement."

In addition, the support by the Prime Minister’s Office, PSC, Ministry of Finance and other line Ministries of Government in human resources at MOH and other front line ministries and agencies, during these challenging times, through new temporary policies for overtime and hazard allowances had facilitated activities by frontliners, he said.

"In other words, the success was largely due to all of government, multi-stakeholder collaboration leading to effective preparedness and response."

He said in spite of these successes, the Ministry of Health is still prepared to adopt the WHO recommendations as noted:

Temporary recommendations includes:

• Sustain the national capacity gains and prepare for future events.
• Integrate Covid-19 vaccination into life course vaccination programmes.
• Bring together information from diverse respiratory pathogen surveillance data sources to allow for a comprehensive situational awareness
• Prepare for medical countermeasures to be authorized within national regulatory frameworks to ensure long-term availability and supply.
• Continue to work with communities and their leaders to achieve strong, resilient, and inclusive risk communications and community engagement (RCCE) and infodemic management programmes.
• Continue to lift Covid-19 international travel related health measures.
• Continue to support research.

WHO

Meanwhile, WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week had declared Covid-19 over as a global health emergency, after receiving advice from its Emergency Committee.

"However, that does not mean Covid-19 is over as a global health threat. This virus is here to stay. It is still killing, and it’s still changing. The risk remains of new variants emerging that cause new surges in cases and deaths.

“The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about. What this news means is that it is time for countries to transition from emergency mode to managing Covid-19 alongside other infectious diseases."