The 114 passengers who were repatriated from Fiji and New Zealand on February 4 are all negative, after their final tests for CoViD-19, Dr Reynold ‘Ofanoa said today.
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Results for COVID-19
Wednesday 24 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Australian citizens and permanent residents in Tonga who wish to return to Australia via Auckland can now get a connecting flight to Sydney within 24 hours. No COVID-19 test is required prior to departure, however, passengers must cover the costs of the mandatory 14-days quarantine on arrival in Australia.

Tuesday 23 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Air New Zealand will trial a digital vaccine passport for three weeks starting in April on its Auckland – Sydney route, the airline announced yesterday.

Thursday 18 February 2021
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Canberra, Australia
Australia plans to start the roll out of the Pfizer/BioNTech CoViD-19 vaccine next week to the first and most vulnerable Australians from 22 February.

Wednesday 17 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Repatriation flights are scheduled to arrive in Tonga on March 3, from New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.

Monday 15 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s Declaration of a Health State of Emergency will enter its second year of enforcement, under a monthly renewal starting from 8:00pm today, February 15 to March 15. This means the State of Emergency has been in force for a full year, since it was first declared on 12 March 2020.

Monday 15 February 2021
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Auckland, New Zealand
The city of Auckland is now under level 3 lockdown for three days starting today after a family of three from Papatoetoe tested positive to CoViD-19.

Monday 15 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The 107 passengers who were repatriated from Australia on February 11 have all tested negative for CoViD-19 in their first testing.

Monday 15 February 2021
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Apia, Samoa
A positive CoViD-19 test was reported in Samoa on Saturday in a passenger who arrived in Samoa from California, USA, via New Zealand, on 12 February. Further tests are to be conducted on other passengers and staff who were involved with the flight and quarantine.

Friday 12 February 2021
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Auckland, New Zealand
New Zealand expects to vaccinate border workers within two to three weeks, followed by their household contacts, with the first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine set to arrive in the country next week, announced Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today.

Thursday 11 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
107 passengers were repatriated to Tonga on a chartered flight from Australia this afternoon. A group of seasonal workers also departed Tonga on the same flight.

Thursday 11 February 2021
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Geneva, Switzerland
An equitable supply of vaccines is missing. Of the 128 million vaccine doses administered so far, more than three quarters of those vaccinations are in just 10 countries that account for 60 per cent of global GDP, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, said in a joint statement yesterday. “As of today, almost 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, are yet to administer a single dose.”

Wednesday 10 February 2021
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Sydney, Australia
Eight hundred and fifteen additional seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands, including Tonga, have been approved to help fill jobs in horticulture and meat processing industries in New South Wales, Australia.

Wednesday 10 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A repatriation flight will bring around 122 passengers to Tonga tomorrow from Brisbane, Australia. Other flights scheduled for 25 February have been postponed to arrive in Tonga on March 3.

Tuesday 9 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga could receive the CoViD-19 vaccine “maybe at the end of the first quarter or beginning of the second quarter of the year,” the Ministry of Health Acting CEO, Dr Reynold ‘Ofanoa, said today, 9 February. Home quarantine was no longer allowed, because 27 people had breached the rules, out of 1,624 repatriates.

Monday 8 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
All 114 passengers repatriated from New Zealand and Fiji on February 4 have tested negative. However, from this flight onwards, arriving passengers will be quarantined for 21-days at the managed facilities, with no further home isolation required.

Thursday 4 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Ninety-eight passengers were repatriated on an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland this afternoon, confirmed MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma'u today.

Tuesday 2 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
More than 110 passengers are expected to be repatriated to Tonga, coming from Fiji and New Zealand on Thursday, February 4. They include consultants, stranded passengers and seasonal workers.

Saturday 30 January 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga is finalizing its National Deployment and Vaccination Plans to access CoViD-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility, and initial quantities are expected to be announced soon. Health CEO, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola said COVAX is assessing the readiness of participant countries, who will have to make a contribution if they want vaccination coverage of their population to be increased. Meanwhile, some other Pacific countries have started their vaccination programmes.

Thursday 28 January 2021
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Geneva, Switzerland
The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on all countries to play their part in distributing CoViD-19 vaccines equally.
