Results for Pacific Islands

Fiji recorded 873 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths over a 24-hour period ending at 8:00am on July 12. The country’s Ministry of Health and Medical Services said with daily increases in cases, they were seeing increasing cases of severe COVID-19 and increasing deaths.

A five-year strategy to help 12 smallest Pacific Island countries, including Tonga, build resilience against economic shocks, deliver sustainable services, and promote inclusive and sustainable growth, was endorsed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Fiji has recorded 656 COVID-19 active cases currently in isolation as of 10 June, according to its Ministry of Health and Medical services.

New York Times reporting: Fiame Naomi Mata’afa walked toward Samoa’s beehive-shaped Parliament House on Monday morning intending to be sworn in as the first female prime minister in the Pacific Island nation’s 56-year history. What she and her fellow party members found instead were locked doors. The speaker of parliament had issued orders to keep them out. And so deepened a constitutional crisis that has convulsed this long-stable nation and thrown into doubt whether Mata’afa, whose party won the April 9 election, would actually take office.

With the US-China strategic competition intensifying, New Zealand navigates these tricky geopolitical waters and pursues its ‘independent’ foreign policy even at the risk of offending its Five Eyes partners. ...It also takes into account critical views of its intelligence operations, especially among its close partners in the Pacific. New Zealand with its main signals facility on the South Island, is responsible for gathering information in the South Pacific. By Anne-Marie Schleich (RSIS).

There will be two lunar eclipses visible in Tonga this year. The first lunar eclipse coming up next week on the night 26-27 May is made for us, because the moon will be almost straight above your head. A full moon in a total eclipse is not pitch dark but usually bright red. By Firitia Velt.

A patient at Lautoka Hospital who tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday afternoon, died a few hours later at 6:35pm, confirmed Fiji’s Permanent Secretary of Health, Dr James Fong today. Lautoka Hospital is now in lockdown as part of efforts to prevent a wider outbreak. “Fiji, I do not use the word “war” lightly. But, right now, we are in a war with this virus,” he said.

Samoa’s Head of State, Tuimaleali’ifano Va’aletoa II on 4 May declared the result of Samoa’s 9 April general election void. The Electoral Commissioner will call a new General Election on 21 May 2021.

The new British High Commissioner Designate to Tonga, HE Lucy Joyce, congratulated Tonga on its covid-free status this week. The vaccine had arrived before the virus and “not many countries are in such a privileged position,” she said on Tuesday. The High Commission is officially reopening in May after closing for 15 years.