New York Times reporting: The World Health Organization on Monday authorized the use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, clearing a path for the cheap and easy-to-store shots to be distributed in lower- and middle-income countries around the world.
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Results for Health
Tuesday 16 February 2021
New York, USA
Saturday 6 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The COVAX Initiative expects to release first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTec vaccine and the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine during the first half of 2021 to COVAX Facility participants. Twelve South Pacific countries are included in its first “interim distribution forecast” that targets at least 3% of their populations.
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Wednesday 16 December 2020
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New York, USA
New York Times reporting: While many poor nations may be able to vaccinate at most 20% of their populations in 2021, some of the world’s richest countries have reserved enough doses to immunize their own multiple times over. “The high-income countries have gotten to the front of the line and cleared the shelves,” said Andrea Taylor, a Duke researcher who is studying the coronavirus vaccines contracts. But the outlook for most of the developing world is dire. Because of manufacturing limits, it could take until 2024 for many low-income countries to obtain enough vaccines to fully immunize their populations.
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Monday 14 December 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
All 157 repatriates from Fiji on 10 December have tested negative for CoViD-19, confirmed Tonga's Chief Medical Officer (Public Health) Dr Reynold 'Ofanoa today.
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Sunday 6 December 2020
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Suva, Fiji
Two crew members of the cargo ship MV Island Chief that arrived in Fiji on 2 December 2020 have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in isolation at the Navua Hospital. Fiji officials who boarded the vessel and their close contacts are also in quarantine, Fiji's Dr James Fong said today. The vessel's last port of call was Nuku'alofa in Tonga on 30 November,
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Sunday 6 December 2020
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Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand Army Unimog truck parts, for His Majesty’s Armed Forces, and personal protective equipment (PPE), including medical gowns, were delivered to Tonga on 4 December, by an RNZAF Hercules.
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Thursday 19 November 2020
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New York, USA
New York Times reporting: The United States passed a grim milestone Wednesday, hitting 250,000 coronavirus-related deaths, with the number expected to keep climbing steeply as infections surge nationwide. Experts predict that the country could soon be reporting 2,000 deaths a day or more.
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Monday 16 November 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The 252 repatriated passengers from Auckland and Brisbane have been released from quarantine after testing negative for CoViD-19 confirmed Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola on Saturday evening, 14 November. Two more flights are due to arrive from Auckland on 19 November, and from Brisbane on 24 November.
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Monday 26 October 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
All 141 passengers repatriated from Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this month have tested negative for CoViD-19 confirmed Ministry of Health CEO Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola today. Another 230 repatriated passengers are expected to arrive later this week from Brisbane and Auckland.
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Friday 23 October 2020
Melbourne, Australia
With the exception of decent New Zealand and arguably Australia, the rich, European ethnicity countries of the US Alliance have been involved in intentional Gerocide (mass killing of the elderly) in which their deliberate Covid-19 pandemic policies have resulted in “Covid-19 deaths per million of population” 10-180 times greater than in New Zealand (5). Expression of a deliberate intention to cause avoidable death of large numbers of people, and specifically of elderly people, would be unacceptable in politically correct Western democracies. But, unspoken and publicly unacknowledged, Gerocide is what has been happening in North America and Western Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic. By Dr Gideon Polya.
Friday 2 October 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
“Give hope and save lives” is the message of this month's Breast Cancer Awareness Month launched on October 1, by the Tonga Breast Cancer society Inc., with their Patron Princess Pilolevu Tuita as guest of honour.
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Friday 28 August 2020
Abuja, Nigeria
Growing evidence shows that COVID-19 survivors can suffer from long-term health effects, not least heart-related complications. All countries with high rates of obesity should be considering programs encouraging weight loss, healthier eating, and physical activity. The more we can reduce the heart-related and other complications of COVID-19, the more lives we will save. By Ifeanyi M. Nsofor.
Monday 3 August 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga's Minister for Health, Hon Dr ‘Amelia Tu’ipulotu has been hospitalized and is recovering well, said Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola this morning. He did not explain the reason for her admission to Vaiola Hospital. Meanwhile, the first group pf 57 repatriated passengers who arrived from Fiji on July 11, completed their additional seven days of home quarantine with no symptoms recorded.
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Tuesday 28 July 2020
New York, USA
While ample resources – and high hopes – are being invested in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, policymakers and the public should be preparing for a scenario in which no silver bullet is possible. But even in that case, writes renowned infectious disease expert William A. Haseltine, there are strong grounds to believe that we can control the virus and its spread.
Monday 20 July 2020
New York, USA
Even if one or more vaccines emerge that promise to make people less susceptible to COVID-19, the public-health problem will not be eliminated. But policymakers can avert some foreseeable problems by starting to address key questions about financing and distribution now. The toughest political question of all, though, is likely to concern access. Who should receive the initial doses of any vaccine? Who determines who is allowed into the queue and in what order? By Richard N. Haass
Wednesday 15 July 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A reliable and resilient electricity supply is important for health workers, even more so now during the stresses of CoViD-19. In a hospital a power cut could be life-threatening for some patients.
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Wednesday 17 June 2020
London, United Kingdom
Governments cannot openly admit that the "controlled easing” of COVID-19 lockdowns in fact means controlled progress toward so-called herd immunity to the virus. Because there is currently no COVID-19 vaccine, governments have had to find other ways to prevent “excess deaths.” Most have opted for lockdowns, which remove entire populations from the path of the virus and thus deprive it of hosts. But this strategy has a terrible weakness: governments cannot keep their populations locked down until a vaccine arrives. Apart from anything else, the economic cost would be unthinkable. So, they have to ease the lockdown gradually. By Robert Skidelsky
Friday 29 May 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
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.
Tuesday 19 May 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Preparations get Tonga ready to combat CoViD-19 should it reach the kingdom, are progressing slowly. The Ministry of Health reported delays in the construction of a specialised CoVid-19 testing laboratory, and they are waiting more protective gowns and overalls, and an oxygen generator. The Ministry is still working on a quarantine policy for future incoming passengers.
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Monday 20 April 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
International flights to Tonga have been barred up to 12 June according to a diversion order issued by the Ministry of Health CEO Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola. The order is to prevent the introduction, or spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to Tonga.
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