Results for Health

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.

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.

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.

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.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on all countries to play their part in distributing CoViD-19 vaccines equally.

Tongans stuck in countries such as USA and Europe will be allowed to travel and quarantine in New Zealand before they are repatriated to Tonga, confirmed MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma'u today, 25 January.

The 238 passengers who were repatriated from New Zealand and Samoa on January 14 are negative for CoViD-19 in their first testing.

The Marshall islands was the first country in the Pacific region to have access to a COVID-19 vaccine at the end of December, while The Federated States of Micronesia and Palau expect to receive a vaccine this month. Meanwhile, Tonga and other Pacific countries are waiting to have access to vaccines through the global COVAX initiative, possibly toward the end of 2021.

Tonga’s health officials are keeping their “eyes and ears open” as they closely monitor the spread of a new more contagious CoViD-19 variant in England and other countries. Ministry of Health CEO, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola said today they would closely study how this new variant evolves and adapt quickly to any new threat as it develops.