Results for Health

COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11 March, due to the rising number of confirmed people with COVID-19 around the world and the increase in deaths.

A second and final batch of samples taken from a suspected COVID-19 case in Tonga on Saturday has been sent to New Zealand for testing. This is after the first test, sent to Australia last week was found to be negative.

Tonga's Health officials are urging sick people, including Tongans, who are planning to visit Tonga, to stay away while they are ill. The plea comes after a 21-year-old Tongan woman travelled while sick with the flu from Sydney to Tonga on Monday, 2 March, and is now suspected of having COVID-19.

A 21-year-old Tongan woman who returned from Sydney on Monday, March 2 is Tonga’s first suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19). Samples are being sent to New Zealand for confirmation, and that may take three days.

While no cases of coronavirus have been identified in Tonga, the country has raised its alert level from high to very high, in a fourth travel advisory issued today, aimed at preventing the virus from entering the country.

The Ministry of Health issued its third travel advisory on 15 February reminding international travellers they need to meet requirements on arrival in Tonga, due to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. A traveller from China who was on a flight from New Zealand was denied entry at Fua'amotu International Airport last week because he failed to comply with a new condition of entry to Tonga.

The 51 Tongan athletes who were stuck in China following the outbreak of the Corona virus are expected to leave China tomorrow and on Tuesday and travel to the United Kingdom, where they will stay under medical supervision for two weeks before returning to Tonga in early March.

The Tongan Embassy in Beijing has been keeping tabs on Tongan nationals across China, including 49 students to ensure they are looked after, as new cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continue to climb.

The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases worldwide has climbed to 40,235 in China and 909 deaths as at 10 February, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). No update has been provided by the Tonga Government on the Tongan students and sports athletes currently in China, since its travel advisory on 5 February. Meanwhile, residents in Tonga's Vava'u Group are worried that cruise ships are arriving directly from overseas at this time.