Results for COVID-19

As the Pacific Islands consider ways to build back economies severely struck by the CoViD-19 crisis, the environmental impacts faced worldwide highlight the opportunity we now have in our hands to build back a ‘Bluer Pacific’, said Kosi Latu, Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) on World Environment Day.

Statistics show a major decrease in international visitors to Tonga between January to March, in comparison to 2019, as CoViD-19 started to spread worldwide and in the months before Tonga closed its border.

Tonga's CoViD-19 restrictions have been extended from today 8:00pm tonight 29 May until 11 June, the Tongan Government announced today. The restrictions have eased further with a shorter night time curfew from 11:00pm to 5:00am. Borders remain closed up to June 12.

Over 100 Chinese Tongans, who went to China for the Spring Festival earlier this year, would like to return to Tonga, said the Chinese Ambassador to Tonga, Cao Xiaolin, in Nuku'alofa today. There are unofficial reports circulating that Tonga may extend its international border closure beyond 12 June.

Time has given Tonga a great opportunity to prepare itself for the virus and any cases that it might produce. The question is, has this time been used wisely and with urgency to prepare Tonga for the future risks? Those risks, however small, exist even now. Aid money is coming in. Using that to build up the capacity of the health system now means that this can be kept for the future. Wouldn’t it be great if Vaiola were to have a state-of-the-art five-bed ICU that can treat anyone who needs that level of care even after CoViD-19 abates? The staff can do it, if only the facility is there. And it could be. And so we await the arrival of the virus. 
I hope Tonga is well prepared when it does.... - Dr Russ Schedlich

Hon. Prime Minister: Does my country, Tonga, expect me to break the United States law and be punished by it, because our Tongan government can’t even open up their borders even for a limited period of time for their citizens who are stuck worldwide to come home? What the Tongan country expects me to do, after my visa expires, especially when the US government have made no exceptions to allow us international students to stay in the US longer than we’re supposed to. - Salaetau Tuita

Tonga will receive US$8.4m from the World Bank with US$5.5m allocated to improve management of its public finances, boost resilience to the effects of climate change, and provide better access to skills training for labor opportunities domestically and internationally, and US$2.9m will go towards Tonga's CoViD-19 response.

While Tonga’s only airline, Real Tonga, struggles with the impact of ongoing CoVid-19 restrictions, the private sector company faces another tough challenge, a lack of government support and government's attempts to set up a new airline. Meanwhile, Real Tonga is not flying after the SAAB 340 serving the domestic route, suffered engine problems in a bird strike in Vava’u last week. By Eleanor Gee.

A Pacific tourism report on the CoViD-19 impact and recovery in the region projected NZD$3.1 billion losses if there were no tourists visiting seven Pacific Island countries, including Tonga, over a 12-month period.