Seventy-six passengers who were on the last Virgin Australia flight from Sydney to Tongatapu on 18 March, had to overnight in Fiji, when the plane could not land because the landing lights were out at Fua’amotu International Airport. They were required to self-quarantine in Tonga until April 2 under the new travel advisory. Dr Siale 'Akau'ola said today “it is better to overprescribe the quarantine requirements than be sorry later.”
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Friday 27 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Friday 27 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga Cable Ltd. cannot pursue its full claim of over US$1.2 million for the damage that it alleges the oil tanker Duzgit Venture caused to its two undersea communications cables in January 2019, because the piece of legislation to support its claim has never been Gazetted, or come into law in Tonga.

Thursday 26 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
It is vitally important that all Tongans take preventative measures to curb the spread of CoViD-19 and respect WHO guidelines, King Tupou VI told the Tongan Legislative Assembly today, in a message read for the closing of the House.

Thursday 26 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The postponing of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will give Tongan athlete Pita Taufatofua time to improve in his new sport of sprint kayaking and another chance of Olympic qualification in the sport.

Thursday 26 March 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Traditional Tongan skincare treatments using extracts from plants, such as tuitui and feta‘u oils, cinnamon, tevunga leaf, touhuni, pipi, and coconut oil, are the inspiration for a new range of botanical skincare products, launched by a local company this month.
Thursday 26 March 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga's Ministry of Health has negated public concerns that Tongans had returned to the Kingdom from New Zealand after attending a Mt Roskill event with a person who later tested positive for COVID-19.
Thursday 26 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga's Heilala Festival 2020 has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thursday 26 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Australian Volunteers were flown out of Tonga on a charter flight organised by the Australian Volunteers International (AVI) on 25 March, confirmed the Australian High Commission (AHC) in Tonga today.

Thursday 26 March 2020
Suva, Fiji
Fakamolemole pe kae tu’u atu e ki’i tohi ni na’a a’u atu ai homau le’o ki hotau ki’i Pule’anga. - Leonaitasi Taukafa.
Wednesday 25 March 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s Legislative Assembly will have a soft closing for its 2019/20 session on March 26, without guests due to the coronavirus preventative measures.
Wednesday 25 March 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Two British medical students have found themselves stuck in Tonga and unable to return home after Tonga closed its borders earlier this week to prevent COVID-19 from entering the country.
Wednesday 25 March 2020
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Tokyo, Japan
The Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 has been postponed to next year while the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates globally. Meanwhile, Tongan athlete Pita Taufatofua is delivering live workouts from home, streamed on the Olympic Channel.

Tuesday 24 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s Appeal Court for the first time in Nuku'alofa, conducted hearings via video teleconference on March 23, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tuesday 24 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Distaquaine Pele Tu‘ihalamaka is the new Chief Executive Officer for the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, taking up the position from March 23 for four-years.

Tuesday 24 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
All schools in Tonga will be shut down on Friday, March 27 for two weeks, as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic. Tonga currently has no confirmed cases.

Tuesday 24 March 2020
Baltimore, USA
It is likely that eventually, CoViD-19 will become endemic (commonly recurring in the community), and most of us will get infected, says Justin Lessler, an associate professor of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States, stressing that it is most important to slow the speed of transmission.
Tuesday 24 March 2020
Cambridge-MA, USA
As the coronavirus pandemic shuts down the world’s economies, stock markets plummet, and unemployment rises, policymakers will be forced to figure out how to contain the outbreak while preventing financial and economic collapse. Most economic proposals in developed countries focus on cash payments to people, deferred tax payments, and business bailouts. But biomedicine is critical to saving the economy ...a simple immunity test could tell us who doesn’t need to be taken out of economic circulation... and impede an economic Armageddon.- Mark Roe.
Monday 23 March 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Two weeks without incoming commercial passenger flights to Tonga will give the government valuable time to set up essential measures, including equipment for testing in country for CoViD-19 and protective clothing for health workers, and to train more people for the response to the pandemic, which could hugely impact Tonga.
Monday 23 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
UPDATED with regulated prices. Tonga's Ministry of Trade warns that price gouging by some businesses in Tonga in the face of the CoViD-19 pandemic will lead to licence cancellations. “The Ministry will be watching businesses in Tongatapu, ‘Eua, Ha‘apai, Vava‘u and the two Niua’s,” they said, responding to public complaints about profiteering off the emergency today.

Monday 23 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Many of Tonga's businesses are already facing a cash crunch and looking to scale back their operations, as the impact of the CoViD-19 pandemic bites, the Tonga Chamber of Commerce and Industries (TCCI) stated today. While the National Reserve Bank of Tonga has reassured Tongans that our banking system is strong enough to withstand the impact of CoViD-19, but economic growth will be lower for the year.
