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Category: Pacific health

  • Early easing of covid restrictions ‘could be lethal for Māori/Pasifika’

    RNZ Pacific

    A Pacific public health expert says a premature transition of covid-19 restrictions in New Zealand could be lethal for Māori and Pasifika communities.

    The government is under increasing pressure to ease restrictions in Auckland with National saying it would set a six-week deadline for ending lockdowns and that a target of 85-90 percent vaccination rates were “do-able” within that timeframe.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday revealed the city would remain in alert level 3, step 1, and signalled the government would reveal a covid-19 protection plan on Friday.

    But Auckland University public health associate professor Collin Tukuitonga said easing restrictions before vaccination rates among the most at risk communities of Māori and Pasifika were high could be a death sentence.

    “It is abundantly clear that Māori and Pasifika people will have more infections, more of them will go to hospital and more of them will die,” he said.

    “Fortunately we haven’t had the deaths here that has been apparent in other countries. But clearly if we move prematurely the people at risk will pay the price.”

    Hospitals ‘not ready for covid-19 tsunami’
    Meanwhile, an Auckland emergency nurse and nursing union delegate told RNZ Morning Report today that overworked nurses feared hospitals were not ready for the “covid-19 tsunami” – and often thought about quitting.

    Hospital admissions have climbed to 43, and Middlemore Hospital expects to see 20 cases a day through its emergency department next month.

    The Ministry of Health yesterday reported 60 new community cases, a drop from Tuesday’s record 94 cases.

    The nurse, who works in one of Auckland’s emergency departments (ED), said many of her colleagues finish shifts wondering if they would come back for the next one.

    “The nurses are really, really feeling it – feeling really anxious. They feel like there’s a tsumani coming. They can see it coming … and what do they do? Do they run towards it or do they back off?”

    Her own ED was often short by three or four nurses, or a couple of health care assistants, a shift, she said.

    “On a daily basis we are getting texts to say, ‘can you pick up this shift?’. It is becoming a dire situation right now,” she said.

    It was made worse because staff regularly needed to isolate because they were case contacts, she said.

    The nurse, a delegate for the Nurses’ Organisation, said that if they could not staff the shifts, it made for a high pressure day for those left behind, she said.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Aftershocks of covid-19 threaten to undo gains across Pacific, says report

    By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific deputy news editor

    Experts are warning that development gains across the Pacific region over the past 10 years could be undone due to the challenges of the covid-19 pandemic.

    The aid organisation World Vision wants a once in a life time multinational effort to rebuild Pacific livelihoods that have been shattered by the pandemic.

    In the Pacific Aftershocks report, World Vision reveals the results of a survey of households across the region.

    The Pacific Aftershocks report
    The Pacific Aftershocks report. Image: World Vision

    It said while much of the Pacific had not had local cases of covid-19 there had been a tragic human cost due to the economic fallout.

    World Vision New Zealand’s TJ Grant said the economic devastation could take a greater toll than the virus itself.

    Grant said that while many Pacific nations managed to keep infections and transmissions at bay, vulnerable people were now facing the huge cost of closed borders and isolation.

    “Almost two-thirds of households have either lost jobs or lost income and have had to resort to other alternative sources of income.

    ‘One in five houses skip meals’
    “Related to that one in five houses is having to skip meals or having cheaper meals because they can’t afford to have a healthy diet. One of the compounding factors here is that through the covid pandemic food prices have risen significantly in many Pacific countries,” Grant said.

    PNG Children on Highlands Highway
    PNG children walking on the Highlands Highway. Image: Koroi Hawkins/RNZ Pacific

    One of the nations worst hit by the economic downturn caused by the pandemic is Vanuatu.

    World Vision’s country director in Vanuatu, Kendra Gates Derousseau, said Vanuatu had managed to keep covid out yet its food prices had soared by 30.6 percent.

    She said this put healthy food out of reach for countless urban ni-Vanuatu.

    “Vanuatu is quite dependent on imports, particularly for urban households that work and cannot spend their time doing agricultural gardening and featuring fresh food. And also the price of transport has gone up significantly because the importation of petrol has slowed down,” she said.

    People lining up to get food supplied from Save the Children on the main island Viti Levu.
    People lining up to get food supplied from Save the Children on the main island Viti Levu. Image: RNZ Pacific/Save the Children

    World Vision wants Australia and New Zealand to lead a once in a generation step up to help these developing nations overcome the devastating impacts of covid.

    It is looking for a comprehensive international programme of support for economic recovery and to address key economic, health and child welfare issues.

    Stunted growth exacerbated
    Grant said stunted growth, as a result of poor nutrition, was a perennial Pacific problem, and occurrence like the virus and its aftershocks exacerbated it.

    Derousseau said New Zealand and Australia and other donor nations could not abandon the Pacific when they were most needed.

    “The covid-19 pandemic is a global phenomenon as well as climate change and we know that the Pacific Island nations are extraordinarily affected — even more so than other regions of the world, and so a regional crisis like this requires a regional response.”

    Roland Rajah is a development economist with Australian think tank, the Lowy Institute. He has written that the Pacific will be economically put back 10 years by the pandemic.

    Vanuatu children
    Ni-Vanuatu children … healthy food out of reach for countless urban ni-Vanuatu. Image: RNZ Pacific

    Rajah told RNZ Pacific it was definitely among the worst affected by the lockdowns.

    “Already other parts of the world, South East Asia, even sub-Saharan Africa, Latin American, the Caribbean, they are all on the rebound already,” he said.

    “Their prospects for recovery are much stronger than for the Pacific. And there are a variety of reasons for that, but it’s fair to say that it’s amongst the worst affected anywhere in the world.”

    He said the Pacific nations typically can’t follow the path of the developed nations and provide stimulis packages because they don’t have the funds.

    But he suggests properly targetted infrastructure investment — that that is aimed at also addressing climate change — assisted by the metropolitan powers, may go some way to providing employment and incomes boosts.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘Ground Zero’ in Goroka where the gloom of death hangs in the air

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Gorethy Kenneth of the PNG Post-Courier in Goroka, Papua New Guinea

    The flowers outside the building are in full bloom — green, red and yellow, sparkling with hope.

    You are welcomed by the usual cool mist in Kol Ples Goroka.

    But that welcoming coolness dissipates fast when you get close to ground zero.

    Inside the Goroka Provincial Hospital, in stark contrast, the gloom of death hangs in the air.

    Sister Lynnette Babah has never seen anything like this before in her entire nursing career.

    The past few weeks have been the most difficult in her life, testing her mettle, her physical willingness, her mental resolve.

    Death is everywhere.

    The Angel of Death
    It seems like the Angel of Death, with a sickle, has swept into the Eastern Highlands and has a bed at the door of the hospital.

    Death pervades the wards, the beds — even the cleaning agents cannot mask the stench of cadavers, and life here, even for the caretakers of the sick, is a misery, pockmarked by tears of grief.

    It is easy to see why. Covid-19 and its delta strain are draining every ounce of life out of the victims.

    The covid that every Papua New Guinean thought they are immune to is finally wreaking havoc with a rising death toll in Goroka, Mt Hagen and the capital Port Moresby.

    Despite warnings, despite calls to vaccinate, many victims, both educated and illiterate, have fallen victim to the virus.

    Last week, I was one of few journalists from Port Moresby that accompanied a team to visit Goroka.

    I can tell you, it was nothing like normal. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.

    Goroka Provincial Hospital
    Goroka Provincial Hospital … now at Ground Zero in PNG’s fight against the covid-19 outbreak. Image: PNG govt

    A shocking reality
    In all of my reporting career, this is the first major ground zero medical emergency I have walked into and I was shocked into reality by what I was witnessing.

    In Papua New Guinea, it is common to be drawn to a moment of euphoria or sadness; you see a mother or a child crying in a flash of gladness or sadness, your tears will follow that emotional outpouring.

    You know when you find a hardened nurse tear up, you instinctively know something is not going right.

    The loss of lives, desperation of the situation, sleepless nights, lack of rest, lack of medicine, equipment, even the simplest things like a pillow, they all add up to melting the heart of a helper.

    Our arrival with the Team Sana medical team sort of sparked the built-up emotion in Sister Lynette and she burst out in tears.

    She was comforted by the doctors and as she gained strength, she said with tears in her eyes: “It’s heartbreaking to see my patients struggle and die every day.

    “In one day, we have 9 to 15 patients pass away and in one day we also struggle to save a life, it is really heartbreaking for me as a nurse to see them die in pain every day.”

    A distraught mother
    Outside, a distraught mother, Mary Anoixa (pronounced Anoiya), and her 10-year-old daughter, Josephine, are covered in black charcoal and have been camping outside of the Goroka Hospital morgue for two weeks.

    Their home is a long way away in Lufa district.

    They are here hoping to see her elder son’s face for the last time before he is put into the coffin and taken away for burial.

    Her 29-year-old nephew, Nicky Anoixa, passed away two weeks ago from a severe attack of the covid-19 at the Goroka Hospital.

    She shed a tear as she remembered the last time, she saw her nephew and held him before he was taken to the critical covid-19 ward at the Goroka Hospital on September 30.

    She has camped at the site for the last two weeks, hoping to catch a glimpse of son’s body but as covid-19 nurses and doctors have advised her, it will never be possible.

    They told her she would only be able to see her son being taken out of the morgue and placed into his coffin before the ambulance takes him away for burial.

    The closest the family will get to see will be his coffin driven by the ambulance to his burial site.

    Managing the virus surge
    Governor Peter Numu said his province was managing the covid-19 virus surge despite all the struggles they were facing financially and socially.

    Numu said he was thankful that he had allocated an approved budget of K1.5 million (NZ$605,000) to help with the covid-19 operations in the province, hence he was appealing to all other leaders to lend a helping hand.

    He said September 30 was a day in his political life that he would never forget — he witnessed 10 people die of the coronavirus and received a phone call that 10 more of his family, officers and supporters had also died.

    Numu urged people to change their attitudes so that they could better address the surging pandemic virus.

    “Covid-19 is real, I made a visit there to the hospital and I saw for myself people dying,” he said.

    “Like one day, I will never forget that day, 10 people died, five at Goroka Hospital, two dead upon arrival, and three deaths from Kainantu – a total of 10 reported cases.

    “But on that day, I also received a lot of phone calls that about five or six people, unreported, died and these are healthy people I am talking about, some are my coordinators, some my supporters, some even my family members… many people died leading to this day.

    “We want a complete lockdown for a period of 14 days; I know the people will say it is against their constitutional right and that we are suppressing them, but these so-called constitutional rights are qualified rights, which must also be consistent with other laws, like in this case we have the Pandemic Act, so when you want to exercise your right, you must know that the Pandemic Act is there to control the spread of Covid-19.

    “Any measures put in place are law under the Pandemic Act.”

    A strange stench
    It is 11am as we enter the Goroka Hospital and the strange stench of the dead can still penetrate through the medicated disposable masks we are wearing.

    And as if this is not bad enough, no one wants to talk to us as everyone we come across is “running” (not walking) to and from every ward and every building in the hospital.

    Further, the feeling of entering a contaminated hospital is something one would not even dream of or dare do, but how can we as journalists avoid that?

    But what is worse is the sound of the ambulance sirens going in and out of the hospital – some coming in with patients in critical condition and others carrying dead bodies, while others carry coffins out for burial.

    And this has been the norm for the last two weeks– every 30 minutes, 20 minutes and 10 minutes.

    The front of the hospital is piled up with all kinds of medical supplies from donor partners, organisations, students and others.

    At the back of the hospital, there is a gate that never closes – opens 24/7 because buses, cars, and even ambulances come in every interval to bring in patient

    Highlands oxygen trucks
    A Highlands social media posting by Chloe Mandrakamu in Papua New Guinea. Image: FB CM

    s, some dead-on-arrival, while others make it to see another day, while the rest die from shortage of oxygen or have arrived late and not in time to be saved.

    The clock is ticking
    Everywhere in all these wards, someone is struggling to breath; an oxygen cylinder has run dry, a patient is screaming, families are begging for doctors to save their loved ones and next door someone has just passed on — there is wailing all over

    The minute chores, hourly chores and a day’s chores are all about covid-19, staff are all dressed in PPEs — some quite worn out; everyone is masked and many are in complete apparel and rushing to and from every corner of the covid wards, emergency and morgue like zombies … the clock is ticking and they have to race against time in order to save a life.

    Around the morgue area, family members sit in anticipation, hoping to see their loved one’s face for the last time – even knowing very well they cannot open those body bags.

    There is wailing and mourning, people covered in black soot, some turn up with the best blankets to cover their loved ones stored away in those two big, refrigerated containers.

    And one thing is for certain, the heartbreak they are going through is nothing compared to that of a normal dead – for the last time they see their loved ones is when they bring them to the wards, when they pass on, relatives cannot even say goodbye — they do that after they have been put in a coffin and driven away in their ambulances — that has been the norm.

    • A seven-member team of PNG’s National Emergency Medical Team (EMT) — Team SANA — was deployed to Goroka on a 14-day mission to support the Eastern Highlands Province covid-19 response.

    Eastern Highlands — now a high-risk highlands province — is currently experiencing a surge in critical covid-19 cases, and Team Sana’s presence on the ground is proving vital in helping the province manage its situation, while providing temporary relief to staff on the ground.

    The team has been working with the provincial health authority to build capacity on the clinical management of severe covid-19 patients, incorporating safety and infection prevention control measures, isolation, conducting hands-on training for severe patient management and vaccine advocacy among health workers and patients.

    According to the John Hopkins University covid-19 dashboard, Papua New Guinea has 24,041 confirmed cases and 266 deaths, but experts say the real toll is far higher. Only 0.7 percent of the country’s nine million people are fully vaccinated.

    Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist who accompanied the Team Sana mission.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Covid surge threatens PNG’s Mt Hagen hospital with ‘closure by Christmas’

    By Rita Peki in Mt Hagen, Papua New Guinea

    Two deaths with two patients in critical condition is the status at one of Papua New Guinea’s leading hospitals as the covid-19 pandemic continues to create havoc along with an acute shortage of operational funds.

    Mount Hagen Provincial Hospital in Western Highlands Province — owed K1.6 million  (NZ$650,000) by the central government in Waigani — struggles to maintain its ongoing clinical services as well as provide treatment and care to the escalating number of suspected covid-19 cases, said the Highlands Provincial Health Authority.

    According to WHPHA acting chief executive officer Jane Holden, the hospital will definitely shut down come Christmas if funding is delayed further.

    She said although the hospital was stretched to its limit, it tested 27 positive covid-19 cases in the last four days, bringing the number of new cases since Saturday to 109.

    This left only five isolation beds unoccupied out of 20 available isolation beds.

    “Two patients died last week and two are critically ill, Holden said.

    “Although we cannot get the results for the whole genome sequencing, we must assume we are dealing with the delta variant, given the rapid increase in numbers and severity of their illness.

    Funds for two weeks
    “We only have enough covid-19 funds to support another two weeks work despite sending a request in late June to the Department of Health.

    Holden said if there was no funding, the hospital would shut down its services before Christmas.

    “This will commence next week with the closure of consultation clinics for any new patients and the discharge of others over a couple of weeks.

    “We will also need to ask patients coming from other provinces to seek support locally rather than come to Mt Hagen Hospital.

    “Over the next four to six weeks, beds will be closed as patients are discharged home.

    “Further reducing services at the hospital just puts increased pressure on rural health services, and we know that they are also stressed.

    “Church Health Services have not had funding support this year either and are under significant pressure as well,” Holden said.

    “This is a very difficult time.”

    According to statistics from National Control Centre, Papua New Guinea is reporting 1000 new cases a month — an increase of 50 percent, averaging 500 new cases a month.

    In the last three weeks, 649 cases were confirmed, with 18 deaths reported in the same period. Of this, one medical doctor had died out of the 53 health workers who tested positive with covid-19.

    ‘Biggest’ threat to Pacific in century
    Meanwhile, in New York, US, Prime Minister James Marape told a Pacific Islands Forum meeting last week that covid-19 presented the biggest threat to the health and wellbeing of Pacific people and the world in more than a century.

    He told a virtual PIF Leaders Meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA): “Never before, has the full Forum membership simultaneously been in a crisis wherein members face significant challenges to prepare, respond and mitigate the immediate and associated threats posed by the covid-19 pandemic.”

    Marape said a unified collective regional approach to address covid-19 through the Pacific Humanitarian Pathway had ensured countries remained relatively unscathed from the health impacts of covid-19, with six countries still covid-free.

    “The emergence of the more transmissible strains of the virus is concerning, with clear evidence that the coping capacity of some of our members’ health systems is struggling to keep up with the rapid spread of the virus,” he said.

    “There are some assurances provided through vaccine-powered recovery, however, in places where vaccines are not yet widely available, or in communities where people have not been vaccinated despite availability, the virus could still spread rapidly.

    “When forum leaders met last month, we re-emphasised the importance of ensuring the distribution of safe and effective vaccines in the Pacific region and reiterated our call to global leaders to support the equitable and affordable distribution of safe and effective covid-19 treatments and vaccines to all Pacific peoples, facilitate early economic recovery and to call for a WTO TRIPS waiver for covid-19 vaccines.

    “We also committed to collectively ensure comprehensive vaccination coverage is achieved for our Pacific peoples by setting a target of 80 percent of the eligible population for the Pacific region subject to country readiness by the first quarter of 2022.”

    Rita Peki is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Covid deaths soar in New Caledonian crisis – 16 in one day

    RNZ Pacific

    New Caledonia recorded 16 covid-19 deaths yesterday — the highest single day total since the delta strain of the virus arrived in the territory less than three weeks ago.

    A spokesperson for the territorial government, Gilbert Tyuienon, said the archipelago “is going through a crisis never seen in its entire history”.

    Fifty-two people are in intensive care and 323 hospitalised, while health authorities say the peak of the epidemic has yet to be reached.

    Seventy three people have died so far in the emergency.

    According to Medipole Noumea Hospital authorities, the territory is entering the hardest phase of the epidemic and it could last a long time despite measures to try and break chains of transmission.

    These include containment and a curfew that will stay in place until October 4.

    New Caledonians suffer from many co-morbidity factors, with 67 percent of adults obese and an estimated 10 percent who are diabetic.

    These health problems mainly concern the indigenous Kanak and Wallisian populations, which also have the highest mistrust of vaccination.

    A member of the government of Wallisian origin, Vaim’ua Muliava, begged his community to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

    The president of the custom Senate, Yvon Kona, called on the government to ban the sale of alcohol during the lockdown, reports Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes.

    “Too many victims linked to covid are recorded every day as well as the number of deaths,” he said.

    The territory has a population if 288,000.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • In spite of relentless media negativity, NZ’s covid story is largely successful

    COMMENTARY: By Glen Johnson

    On August 17, a 58-year-old man from Auckland became symptomatic and tested positive for covid-19. It was New Zealand’s first community case of the coronavirus in almost six months.

    Within hours, the nation of five million moved into alert level four, part of its “go hard, go early” approach. All travel outside of people’s homes was forbidden, except to fetch supplies, visit pharmacies or exercise.

    The country largely ground to a halt.

    “We have seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, while announcing the cabinet’s decision to impose a lockdown that evening.

    Within a few days, one case had grown to 21 cases. After a week, to 148 cases. By August 31, the cluster contained 612 cases.

    Snap lockdown
    One month after imposing the snap lockdown, New Zealand has bent the curve and may be able to eliminate an outbreak of the potent delta variant of COVID-19 – though it is no sure thing.

    As of September 20, some 1051 people in Auckland and 17 people in the capital city, Wellington, have been infected with the virus, of whom 694 have recovered.

    Contact tracers have methodically identified tens of thousands of contacts – and hundreds of locations of interest – part of an updated track-and-trace system repurposed to cast a much wider net around the far more transmissible delta variant.

    The outbreak, now spread across 20 subclusters, 10 of which have been epidemiologically linked, presents the most serious challenge to elimination that New Zealand has faced so far. With its fragmented public health system under intense strain from decades of under-funding, any unchecked spread of the delta variant would see hospitals rapidly overwhelmed.

    But New Zealanders rallied behind the restrictions, sticking to their “bubbles”, masking up and watching patiently as cases peaked, then began to decline – though the outbreak’s tail is proving persistent.

    If the country does eliminate this outbreak, it would once again validate the “go hard, go early” approach that officials have taken over the past 18 months.

    With Auckland moving yesterday to the more permissive alert level three, case numbers over the coming weeks will be closely watched for any sign of uncontained spread.

    Entitlement and denunciation
    Yet, as with previous outbreaks, the clamour from critics of the government started almost immediately, a chorus of whinge.

    Business special interests laundered their messaging through an uncritical media – “certainty” they chanted, while pressuring for a move down alert levels.

    “We also know that in lockdown Treasury has forecast it to cost the country NZ$1.45 billion per week – and that’s just the economic impact,” Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce chief executive Leeann Watson told broadcaster Newstalk ZB.

    Incredibly, less than a week into lockdown, Export New Zealand executive director Catherine Beard complained to Stuff, the country’s most popular news website, that the business environment was getting “tough” for exporters, while lobbying for more managed isolation spots for business travellers – or self-isolation.

    “Some of these are multimillion-dollar deals, so the situation is very stressful,” she said.

    Some in the hospitality sector complained about limits on gatherings and threatened to withhold tax, while demanding “targeted” assistance from the government.

    “Now it’s 100 percent [Ministry of] Health running the show,” said Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Julie White, according to Stuff. “No one is advising them commercially.”

    Most New Zealanders would, presumably, prefer that the Health Ministry – as opposed to hospitality interest groups – responds to the threat presented by a lethal, airborne pathogen.

    ‘Glacial’ pace criticised
    The “glacial” pace of the country’s vaccine rollout was also riffed off in headline after headline.

    Perhaps, as the political opposition and reporters contend, the rollout has been “sluggish”.

    Perhaps the government could have instructed the medical regulator Medsafe to conduct a less rigorous assessment of the Pfizer vaccine, under emergency protocols.

    “Another [possibility] is,” Craig McCulloch, Radio New Zealand’s deputy political editor speculated, “that the government’s negotiators came late to the party, did a poor job and got a raw deal.”

    Or perhaps soaring global demand amid the pandemic, Pfizer’s finite ability to supply vaccines to a vast suite of countries and New Zealand’s limited purchasing power and largely covid-free status explains the “delay”.

    Certainly, the World Health Organisation has described vaccine hoarding by wealthy nations as approaching a “catastrophic moral failure”.

    When Pfizer became able to deliver large shipments midway through July, New Zealand saw a dramatic scale-up in the vaccination programme, as officials had promised for months.

    Rollout a success story
    If anything, the nation’s rollout — a massive logistical undertaking — has largely been a success story, conducted in an environment of incredible uncertainty and reliant upon an already stretched workforce.

    It has additionally played a key role in supporting vaccination efforts in the Cook Islands.

    As of September 20, some 4,711,410 doses of the vaccine have been administered, tracking close to supply, with 1,618,673 people now fully vaccinated.

    Amid the rising racket, the entitlement and denunciation, even commentators from abroad got in on the act.

    Fox News host Tucker Carlson — agitating anti-lockdown sentiment — suggested that New Zealand provided a model for how his viewers would be subjugated by Joe Biden’s administration.

    “How far can they go? […] A single covid case in New Zealand, not a death from covid, but a case of covid has shut down the entire country.”

    Writing in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, one commentator called the outbreak “poetic justice” and claimed a “once-welcoming nation is turning into an isolated dystopia, where liberties are taken away in a heartbeat and outsiders are shunned”.

    While these criticisms are couched in the language of defending civil liberties, they reduce to variants of the “learn to live with covid” argument.

    Or put another way: “The cure cannot be worse than the disease”.

    The economy must reign supreme, after all.

    Sound familiar?

    ‘Needles in my eyes’
    New Zealand’s elimination strategy relies on public buy-in. Recent polling shows that some 84 percent of the public supports the latest lockdown.

    As with previous outbreaks, Ardern has used clear, empathetic language to reassure and unify an often politically divided nation. These briefings are held in Parliament’s theatrette and usually feature the Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

    For many in New Zealand, the daily press briefings provide a detailed window into how authorities manage outbreaks and have been the most visible key to the elimination strategy’s success.

    “To all Aucklanders, you have done an amazing job so far protecting yourselves, your family and your community,” Ardern said on September 13, while announcing that Auckland would stay in alert level four for another week. “We owe you a huge debt of gratitude … but the cases are telling us we have additional work to do.”

    Voters rewarded Ardern’s Labour Party for this kind of humane approach and its exceptional management of the viral threat in the national elections last October, granting it an outright majority.

    The political opposition judges these briefings a political threat, and routinely denigrates them as Ardern speaking from “The Podium of Truth”.

    With the return of daily briefings on August 17, right-wing broadcasters and some journalists began to deride the briefings, at exactly the moment when trust in the authorities needed to be reinforced.

    Undermining public perceptions
    There is a difference between “holding power to account” and deliberately attempting, for purely partisan political reasons, to undermine public perceptions that the covid-19 response is being well managed.

    “I tried, I really did, but I wanted to stick needles in my eyes by about four minutes in,” said Newstalk ZB’s Kate Hawkesby, the day after the return of the 1pm press conferences. “I’d forgotten how soul-destroying it is to be spoken to like a three-year-old.”

    On the same station, Hawkesby’s husband, Mike Hosking, overdubbed turkey “gobbles” and truck horn sound effects onto an interview recorded with Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall.

    Newstalk ZB’s political editor, Barry Soper, in a report about an Auckland man whose kidney surgery was postponed due to staffing shortages, loaded his story’s preamble with phrases like “their altar” and “practise what they preach”.

    He also issued a remarkable dog-whistle to New Zealand’s far-right, the kind of people who believe Ardern – a fairly mild political centrist – is turning the country into a “communist dictatorship”.

    “If you have ever wondered what it must have been like to live in a totalitarian state, then perhaps wonder no more.”

    This nonsense went on and on.

    Moaning media
    Some press gallery reporters began to complain about the length of Ardern’s introductions, while Jason Walls, a political reporter with Newstalk ZB, took to Twitter to moan about Dr Bloomfield saying “finally” two times.

    This speaks to how the media has fundamentally misunderstood what the briefings are: public service announcements.

    They are for the public. Reporters are invited as a check and, as such, should resist the urge to demand a say in how these announcements are structured.

    Even The New York Times managed to launder messaging that targeted the briefings, quoting former National Party staffer and political commentator Ben Thomas – who appears fixated on denigrating Dr Bloomfield.

    “He [Dr Bloomfield] has … a cult-like following,” said Thomas. “The country has a huge kind of parasocial devotion to him, which is very new to New Zealand.”

    Apparently, Thomas has not heard of Michael Joseph Savage, who founded New Zealand’s welfare state in the 1930s and whose framed photo hung in homes throughout the country for decades.

    Regardless, all of this is a fairly obvious partisan political effort, driven by both ideology and market dynamics.

    Many reporters and commentators at New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), which owns The New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB, seem unable to accept that their preferred political tribe is no longer in power.

    More critically, in an age where the news media increasingly attempts to attract subscribers by catering to their social and political values, NZME appears to be ring-fencing centre-to-far-right eyeballs.

    It is, essentially, becoming New Zealand’s Fox News.

    A brave new world
    The sense in New Zealand is that this may be the last of the nation’s sledgehammer-style lockdowns, though one hopes officials do not retire lockdowns altogether.

    The goal is to get as many people as possible vaccinated, assess the impact of opening up, and then tentatively start easing some border restrictions, if possible.

    No doubt, certain industries – tourism, hospitality, horticulture, media – will continue to apply relentless pressure.

    Yet, when the nation reconnects more fully to the networks of global trade and travel, the super-highways of hyper-globalisation that have spread disease and death around the world, when the inevitable outbreaks come, there will be a toll.

    Glen Johnson is an independent New Zealand journalist who worked as a foreign correspondent for 11 years, predominantly out of the Middle East and North Africa. His work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Seattle Times, Vice, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Reuters, Le Monde Diplomatique, Balkan Insight, Al Jazeera and The New Zealand Herald, among others. His article was first published by Al Jazeera English and is republished with the permission of the author.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • New Caledonia imposes curfew as delta outbreak new cases hit 256

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    French High Commissioner Patrice Faure in New Caledonia has declared an eight hour curfew for 15 days from tonight as health authorities reported 256 new cases yesterday in the covid delta variant outbreak.

    The curfew will run from 9pm to 5am

    Government spokesman Yannick Slamet and Health Director Dr Mabon de la Dass addressed last night’s media conference as the crisis entered its second week.

    Dr De la Dass announced 256 new cases, taking the total to 821 cases since the outbreak began just over a week ago.

    Seven patients were in intensive care and two people had died, one with other serious illnesses.

    Eighty percent of the people hospitalised were unvaccinated.

    Slamet said that local “tabac presse” shops — newsagencies — would be closed, but cigarettes and newspapers could be bought at supermarkets that remained open.

    It was “inevitable” that the two-week lockdown declared last week would be extended.

     

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PNG dispatches investigators to check out ‘delta threat’ on Papuan border

    By Jeffrey Elapa in Port Moresby

    Papua New Guinea has dispatched a team of government officials to investigate a covid-19 delta variant threat in its two frontline provinces bordering Indonesia’s Papua — Western and West Sepik.

    Health Minister Jelta Wong has revealed this in Parliament while responding to questions without notice.

    Admitting the rise of delta cases in the two provinces that share land and sea borders with Indonesia was a “major concern”, he told Parliament last week that the investigating team was due back in Port Moresby today and would report to government.

    He was replying to a question from the Member for Aitape-Lumi, Patrick Pruaitch, who had asked what the government was doing to address the delta cases in the two border provinces.

    Pruaitch said Western and West Sepik provinces were currently experiencing an increase in covid-19 that had already killed several people as reported in newspapers.

    He said it was important that the government took a “frontline approach” to prevent the deadly delta variant from spreading.

    Pruaitch wanted the minister to tell the nation what measures and plans it had to address the crisis, and also reveal the level of funding it had made to mitigate the spread of the variant.

    Investigators on the ground
    Minister Wong said the government had already dispatched the surveillance team to the two border provinces to investigate, identify the needs and report back to government.

    Wong said the team would report the findings to the government which would then decide on action to be taken and funding.

    The team also included some development aid partners.

    Minister Wong said the variant was real and serious and was now threatening PNG with several deaths already reported, especially in Western Province.

    He said while it was an individual’s choice to be vaccinated or not, it was vital for MPs to be responsible and to educate their people.

    They needed to tell them the truth about the need for vaccination and about the virus that was now a threat to humanity.

    Indonesia has a growing covid-19 crisis with almost 4.2 million cases, 138,889 deaths and only 15 percent of the 270 million people vaccinated.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘I wouldn’t wish this on anyone’: Life inside Jet Park with six kids and the delta variant

    LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTING: By Justin Latif, Local Democracy Reporter

    One of the positive cases from New Zealand’s Assemblies of God Church of Samoa cluster has shared his experience of recuperating from covid-19 while in quarantine with his family of eight.

    As news spread that a person with the novel coronavirus had attended his church, John, who does not wish to use his real name, made sure he got tested as soon as possible.

    He had been at the Assemblies of God Church of Samoa in South Auckland on August 15 for an all-day event involving the church’s 27 congregations from across the country. The event included bible studies, performances and competitions.

    Local Democracy Reporting
    LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTING

    It was the first time all the Assemblies of God Church of Samoa congregations in New Zealand had gathered in more than two years.

    “This was the first one in a long time and everyone was happy but no one knew what was going on,” John said, speaking from his quarantine hotel room.

    Within a day of his test, John found out his family of eight would be moving to Jet Park in Māngere to quarantine.

    “Trying to get all of our stuff together was a mad rush, especially getting stuff for our baby like nappies and baby food.”

    Positive test a mistake?
    He initially thought the positive test was a mistake, given how healthy he felt, but within three or four days that all changed.

    “I have a good diet and I exercise and train as much as I can, but when it came to this [delta] variant, it came on so fast, I was thinking, ‘holy shit, what’s happening?’.”

    He experienced a loss of taste, hot and cold flashes, body aches, joint pain and “migraines that wouldn’t go away, which felt like they would blow up my brain”.

    Then the virus hit his wife and kids, as they all tested positive. Thankfully his youngest, an 11-month-old, did not experience the same intensity of symptoms.

    With both parents sick in quarantine, John and his wife faced a new challenge.

    “We knew we just had to hang in there because we knew if we went to hospital, there would be no one to look after the kids,” he said.

    “I’ve never seen my family in this much pain before and I would never wish this on anyone.”

    19 days in MIQ
    A standard stay in MIQ is 14 days, but with their positive and symptomatic cases, John’s family had already stayed at Jet Park for 19 days by Friday.

    He said they had been told once the family have been symptom-free for over 72 hours they would be allowed out — something he felt was not too far away.

    As his family recuperated in their room in Jet Park, seeing the news about attacks against his congregation only amplified the pain John and his family were feeling.

    “I saw the remarks. People can’t treat us like that but it shows that racism is still alive in this country,” he said.

    And he was doubly disappointed when Pacific people were highlighted as being the majority of cases in the current outbreak.

    “I don’t see how saying which ethnicity has the most cases is needed. We just need to know there’s this many people infected – that’s it. But to put it out there that we had the most cases… that really puts us down as Pacific Islanders.”

    His frustration extended to the government’s rollout of the vaccine given how the virus has ripped through his church community.

    It could have been prevented
    “All this could have been prevented,” he said. “They knew South Auckland was the most affected in the last two outbreaks, so why wasn’t South Auckland the first to get the vaccine?

    “Why now when there’s a cluster over 500 people are they holding all these pop-up clinics and you can go in without lining up? These things should have been put in place before.”

    A church in Māngere has received a flurry of racially abusive messages after it was named as a location of interest.
    John’s church, the Assembly of God church in Māngere. Image: Justin Latif/LDR

    Despite the tortuous last few weeks, John said his family have been well looked after by the team at Jet Park, as well as by the staff from the social service agency, The Fono.

    “The staff, the nurses, the people who cook the food and do our linen, we’re so thankful for them. We don’t even see their faces, they just drop it off and go. So we feel a little bit lucky to be in Jet Park given how we’re being treated.”

    Along with three meals a day, The Fono’s staff bring extra snacks and games for John’s children, and the family is allowed out of their room every two to three days for a walk around the hotel’s car park.

    “Those snacks can put a smile on their faces to help them feel a bit of normality. And going outside is something we really look forward to — getting a bit of fresh air. It’s just a car park but it’s better than nothing.”

    Don’t gamble on no covid
    And for any of those feeling hesitant about getting the vaccine, John’s message is clear; don’t gamble on not catching covid.

    “There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there but for myself, I wouldn’t want to experience this again and I would never want my kids to feel the full effects of it. This is going to be the new normal… so my advice to people is go take it.”

    Battling a deadly virus in a hotel room with six kids has given John much to think about and much to be thankful for.

    “Seeing ambulances coming in and out of this place, knowing that’s our people, is hard. Having our faith has helped us stay strong but being hit by this has made me understand how important our lives are and not to take things for granted.”

    Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers’ Association and NZ On Air. Asia Pacific Report supports this project.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘I wouldn’t wish this on anyone’: Life inside Jet Park with six kids and the delta variant

    LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTING: By Justin Latif, Local Democracy Reporter

    One of the positive cases from New Zealand’s Assemblies of God Church of Samoa cluster has shared his experience of recuperating from covid-19 while in quarantine with his family of eight.

    As news spread that a person with the novel coronavirus had attended his church, John, who does not wish to use his real name, made sure he got tested as soon as possible.

    He had been at the Assemblies of God Church of Samoa in South Auckland on August 15 for an all-day event involving the church’s 27 congregations from across the country. The event included bible studies, performances and competitions.

    Local Democracy Reporting
    LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTING

    It was the first time all the Assemblies of God Church of Samoa congregations in New Zealand had gathered in more than two years.

    “This was the first one in a long time and everyone was happy but no one knew what was going on,” John said, speaking from his quarantine hotel room.

    Within a day of his test, John found out his family of eight would be moving to Jet Park in Māngere to quarantine.

    “Trying to get all of our stuff together was a mad rush, especially getting stuff for our baby like nappies and baby food.”

    Positive test a mistake?
    He initially thought the positive test was a mistake, given how healthy he felt, but within three or four days that all changed.

    “I have a good diet and I exercise and train as much as I can, but when it came to this [delta] variant, it came on so fast, I was thinking, ‘holy shit, what’s happening?’.”

    He experienced a loss of taste, hot and cold flashes, body aches, joint pain and “migraines that wouldn’t go away, which felt like they would blow up my brain”.

    Then the virus hit his wife and kids, as they all tested positive. Thankfully his youngest, an 11-month-old, did not experience the same intensity of symptoms.

    With both parents sick in quarantine, John and his wife faced a new challenge.

    “We knew we just had to hang in there because we knew if we went to hospital, there would be no one to look after the kids,” he said.

    “I’ve never seen my family in this much pain before and I would never wish this on anyone.”

    19 days in MIQ
    A standard stay in MIQ is 14 days, but with their positive and symptomatic cases, John’s family had already stayed at Jet Park for 19 days by Friday.

    He said they had been told once the family have been symptom-free for over 72 hours they would be allowed out — something he felt was not too far away.

    As his family recuperated in their room in Jet Park, seeing the news about attacks against his congregation only amplified the pain John and his family were feeling.

    “I saw the remarks. People can’t treat us like that but it shows that racism is still alive in this country,” he said.

    And he was doubly disappointed when Pacific people were highlighted as being the majority of cases in the current outbreak.

    “I don’t see how saying which ethnicity has the most cases is needed. We just need to know there’s this many people infected – that’s it. But to put it out there that we had the most cases… that really puts us down as Pacific Islanders.”

    His frustration extended to the government’s rollout of the vaccine given how the virus has ripped through his church community.

    It could have been prevented
    “All this could have been prevented,” he said. “They knew South Auckland was the most affected in the last two outbreaks, so why wasn’t South Auckland the first to get the vaccine?

    “Why now when there’s a cluster over 500 people are they holding all these pop-up clinics and you can go in without lining up? These things should have been put in place before.”

    A church in Māngere has received a flurry of racially abusive messages after it was named as a location of interest.
    John’s church, the Assembly of God church in Māngere. Image: Justin Latif/LDR

    Despite the tortuous last few weeks, John said his family have been well looked after by the team at Jet Park, as well as by the staff from the social service agency, The Fono.

    “The staff, the nurses, the people who cook the food and do our linen, we’re so thankful for them. We don’t even see their faces, they just drop it off and go. So we feel a little bit lucky to be in Jet Park given how we’re being treated.”

    Along with three meals a day, The Fono’s staff bring extra snacks and games for John’s children, and the family is allowed out of their room every two to three days for a walk around the hotel’s car park.

    “Those snacks can put a smile on their faces to help them feel a bit of normality. And going outside is something we really look forward to — getting a bit of fresh air. It’s just a car park but it’s better than nothing.”

    Don’t gamble on no covid
    And for any of those feeling hesitant about getting the vaccine, John’s message is clear; don’t gamble on not catching covid.

    “There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there but for myself, I wouldn’t want to experience this again and I would never want my kids to feel the full effects of it. This is going to be the new normal… so my advice to people is go take it.”

    Battling a deadly virus in a hotel room with six kids has given John much to think about and much to be thankful for.

    “Seeing ambulances coming in and out of this place, knowing that’s our people, is hard. Having our faith has helped us stay strong but being hit by this has made me understand how important our lives are and not to take things for granted.”

    Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers’ Association and NZ On Air. Asia Pacific Report supports this project.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • New Caledonia appeals to all medical staff to help combat covid-19 outbreak

    RNZ Pacific

    The New Caledonian government has appealed to all medical and paramedical staff, including veterinarians, to help in the fight against covid-19.

    Sixty-six cases have been recorded since the community outbreak was first detected on Monday and a lockdown was ordered from Tuesday.

    There are seven people in intensive care with two in a serious condition.

    France has declared a state of emergency in both New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

    The positive covid cases range in age from 20 to 80 and while some are in Noumea hospital, others are in hotels set aside for quarantine.

    The virus has been detected across the main island and in the Loyalty Islands — Lifou in particular.

    So far about a dozen clusters have been identified, with contacts being asked to isolate and get tested.

    MaxA maximum of 800 tests a day can be done, which means that only people with symptoms are advised to get one.

    Vaccinations are being stepped up as only about a third of the population of 288,000 has been inoculated so far.

    Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes 100921
    Today’s front page news of the covid-19 outbreak “explosion” in New Caledonia. Image: Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes

    The president of the customary Senate, Yvon Kona, was among those people being vaccinated today and he urged the public to get vaccinated.

    Before Monday’s outbreak, New Caledonia had recorded fewer than 140 covid-19 cases in total.

    In French Polynesia, a further 13 people have died of covid-19, raising the death toll to 535.

    The health ministry said 311 covid-19 patients eere in hospital and 54 of them in intensive care.

    Case numbers are no longer compiled and released by the authorities who said they would be inaccurate as many people carried out self-tests.

    Most of the territory is in a four-week lockdown and curfews are in place to slow the spread of the virus.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Three delta cases of covid detected in New Caledonia – schools closed

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • 204 covid patients in Fiji hospitals – 20 severe, 9 critical

    By Rohit Deo in Suva

    Fiji health authorities report that there are currently 204 covid-19 patients admitted at the country’s hospitals.

    According to the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, 84 patients have been admitted at the Lautoka Hospital, 17 patients at the FEMAT field hospital, and 103 at CWM hospital, St Giles, and Makoi.

    Twenty patients are considered to be in a severe condition, and nine are critical.

    Health Secretary Dr James Fong has announced 156 new cases of covid-19 for the 24 hour period ending at 8am today.

    He said there were 79 cases in the Western Division, 73 cases in the Central Division and 4 cases in the Eastern Division.

    As at September 3, 566,210 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 299,943 have received their second doses.

    According to the ministry, this means that 96.5 percent of the target population have received at least one dose and 51.1 percent are now fully vaccinated nationwide.

    Fijians can check the Ministry’s vaccine dashboard to find real-time data on first-dose and second-dose numbers at the national, divisional and sub-divisional levels.

    Rohit Deo is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pacific health boost aims to meet urgent and sustained demand in NZ

    RNZ Pacific

    Pacific health providers say a major New Zealand government funding boost is not just a recognition of the critical role they play in reaching Pasifika communities, but of the urgent and sustained response that the delta variant demands

    The government has announced a NZ$26 million package of support for the Pacific community which is bearing the brunt of the current covid-19 Delta outbreak.

    It also announced a $23 million boost in funding to Whānau Ora to be divided between its three agencies including Pasifika Futures.

    The funding comes with immediacy because health officials recognise the fast moving delta variant demands an urgent response.

    Especially since the number of Pacific people infected is high, as is the number of Pacific peoples isolating.

    Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone
    Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone … funding will firstly secure the services of Pacific provider networks. Image: RNZ

    Director of Pacific Health, Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone said the funding would firstly secure the services of Pacific provider networks in Auckland and Wellington regions where Pasifika needed the most, and immediate, support.

    “The second is to support mobile services and ensure that people can get tested in the home and vaccinated in the home and have other health issues dealt with,” Clifford-Lindstone said.

    “And then the third one is communications to ensure that our communities have access to information around vaccines and that needs to be in ethnic specific languages.”

    Maintaining momentum
    The boost will help maintain momentum in the vaccine rollout and ongoing testing, which Pasifika Futures’ CEO Debbie Sorensen said had been met with a great response by the Pacific community

    “And the Whānau Ora money will of course support people being able to stay in their bubbles. Being able to stay safe and keep their families fed and a roof over their families. We’ve had an assurance from Te Puni Kōkiri that we will have that money in our hands tomorrow,” Sorensen said.

    She said there was no question that until now Pacific providers generally had been under-funded.

    “They were not funded with any flexibility to meet a surge demand. So this will go some way to making sure that as a community we’re able to respond and support our families over the next fortnight but also to be looking into the future about what we do next,” she said.

    Tevita Funaki
    Tevita Funaki of The Fono … welcomes the funding boost. Image: RNZ/Pasifika Futures

    Tevita Funaki of Pacific health and social support provider The Fono welcomes the funding boost.

    He said the health and social strains from this outbreak would have a significantly longer tail than those the community experienced after lockdowns last year.

    And with the level of demand for The Fono’s food packages this time around, families needed more sustained support.

    Welfare support initiative
    “The welfare support, so there’s a welfare support initiative that is supporting especially those that are in isolation. We’ll be able to maintain that because now we will have the ability to re-deploy staff into it. So this will help not only to scale it up, or help to resource it, but also will help to continue it, at least for the short to medium term,” said Funaki.

    The innovation manager of Pacific health, disability and social services provider Vaka Tautua, Bernice Mene, said the boost made public health sense given what her organisation had seen working throughout the country.

    “And a lot of the feedback is that they are keen for vaccinations but the access, there’s problems with access. And our disabilities community as well. It’s being able to access the vaccination stations, the essential workers or the workers as well,” Mene said.

    She said increased support for communication, getting Pacific communities the essential information in a way they could access was also vital in the pandemic response.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Fiji reports 290 new covid cases, 8 more deaths in 24 hours

    RNZ Pacific

    Eight more people have died from covid-19 in Fiji, taking the death toll past 500.

    The Fiji government also confirmed 290 new cases for the 24 hours to 8am yesterday.That compares with 505 cases and seven deaths in the previous 24-hour period.

    Fiji now has 17,124 active cases. There were 2306 recoveries.

    The death toll is at 504, with 502 of these from the latest outbreak that began in April, 2021.

    Health Secretary Dr James Fong said of the latest cases, 128 were from the Western Division, 137 from the Central Division and 25 cases from the Eastern Division.

    He said there were 25 new cases on Kadavu in the East.

    “This means there are now 257 active cases of covid-19 in Kadavu. All these individuals have been isolated,” he said.

    Active cases
    “There have been 2306 new recoveries to report since the last update, which means that there are now 17,124 active cases — 6182 are in the Central Division, 10,680 in the West, five in the Northern Division (Nabouwalu and Macuata) and 257 in the Eastern Division (all on Kadavu),” he said.

    “The ministry is currently reviewing and reconciling its active case database with recoveries and as a result the recovery numbers to intermittently increase markedly is expected as verifications are made.”

    There have been 46,936 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.

    Dr Fong said the latest eight deaths were reported for the period 27 August to 1 September.

    Of the latest fatalities, seven were reported in the Western Division and one from the Central Division, Dr Fong said:

    * An 87-year-old man from Suva presented to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in severe respiratory distress on August 21. He died nine days later.

    * A 56-year-old man from Tavua presented to the Tavua hospital in severe respiratory distress on August 22. He died eight days later.

    * A 71-year old woman from Lautoka presented to the Lautoka Hospital in severe respiratory distress on August 20. She died 11 days.

    * A 67-year-old man from Tavua presented to the Tavua Hospital in severe respiratory distress on August 30. A medical team from Tavua transferred him from the Tavua Hospital to the Lautoka hospital. He died on the same day.

    * A 76-year-old woman from Nadi died at home on September 1.

    * A 65-year-old man from Nadi died at home on August 30.

    * A 78-year-old man from Ba died at home on August 30.

    * A 46-year-old woman from Sigatoka presented to the Korolevu Health Centre in severe respiratory distress on August 27. She died on the same day.

    Three other deaths
    There have been three other deaths of covid-19 positive patients.

    However, Dr Fong said these deaths had been classified as non-covid related by their doctors.

    “The doctors have determined that these deaths were caused by a serious pre-existing medical condition and not covid-19,” he said.

    “As of August 27, the national 7-day rolling average of covid-19 deaths per day is 6 — two in the Central Division and four in the Western Division.

    “We also have recorded a total of 311 covid-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions they had before they contracted the virus. These are not classified as covid-19 deaths.”

    There are currently 241 covid-19 patients in hospital – 106 of these are at the Lautoka Hospital, 18 are admitted at the FEMAT field hospital, and 117 are at the CWM, St Giles and Makoi hospitals.

    Dr Fong said 15 patients are considered to be in severe condition, while 14 are critical.

    As of 31 August, 560,336 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 275,072 getting both jabs.

    This means that 95.9 percent of the target population have received at least one dose and 47.6 percent are now fully vaccinated in Fiji.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ reports 82 new community covid cases – total now 429

    RNZ Pacific

    New Zealand has 82 new community cases of covid-19 today, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.

    There was no media conference from the government today. In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there were now 429 cases linked to the Auckland outbreak.

    All of today’s new cases were in Auckland. There have now been 415 cases in Auckland and 14 in Wellington connected to the current community outbreak.

    The ministry said 376 cases had now been clearly epidemiologically linked to another case or sub-cluster, with another 53 for which links are yet to be fully established.

    There was one new case in managed isolation reported today.

    * Follow all the latest developments with RNZ’s live blog here

    There are now 23 people with covid-19 in Auckland’s hospitals, including two in ICU. The Health Ministry said all of the cases were in a stable condition.

    One case is in North Shore Hospital, 11 are in Middlemore Hospital, 12 are in Auckland City Hospital, and one is in Wellington Regional Hospital.

    “There are appropriate isolation and infection prevention and control plans in place at all hospitals where these patients are being managed,” said the ministry.

    Of the new cases, 62 are Pacific peoples, five are Asian, four are European, two are Māori, one is Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and the ethnicity of eight is unknown.

    The total number of active cases being managed in New Zealand is currently 429 and the number of total cases in this country has now crossed the 3000 mark, with 3023 cases.

    There were 70 new community cases reported in New Zealand yesterday.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also confirmed yesterday that all of New Zealand south of Auckland will move to alert level three at midnight Tuesday, but Auckland is likely to stay at level 4 for two weeks.

    Vaccine numbers
    The ministry said 89,316 vaccines were given yesterday, including 65,011 first doses and 24,305 second doses. This was the second biggest daily total to date.

    More than 3.2 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine have been administered to date.

    Of these, 2.1 million are first doses and more than 1.1 million are second doses.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Community leaders say NZ vaccine rollout plan not working for Pasifika

    By Christine Rovoi, RNZ Pacific journalist

    The government-designed vaccination rollout in New Zealand has not mobilised Pacific communities to respond safely and effectively, the Pacific Leadership Forum said.

    More than 50 percent of covid-19 infections in New Zealand are of Pacific descent.

    But they have one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

    Pakilau o Aotearoa Manase Lua is chair of the Pacific Response Coordination Team (PRCT) and said this showed the current vaccination strategies were not working for Pacific peoples.

    The Tongan community leader said this was despite millions of dollars being allocated towards covid-19 vaccination stations, communications and PR companies to drive awareness and engagement.

    “I don’t blame our communities at all. A lot of them are hearing a lot of misinformation through social media on the vaccines,” he said.

    “There’s uncertainty because now they hear that their children don’t even need permission. It’s all on the Ministry of Health’s website. Children who want to get vaccinated don’t need to tell their parents.”

    PRCT helped mobilise Pacific communities
    Pakilau said during last year’s outbreak in April, the PRCT helped mobilise Pacific communities to get tested at the Ōtara South Seas, when Pacific testing was low.

    In August, the PRCT and other Pacific providers set up a pop-up community testing station at a Māngere church, “when a government response was not forthcoming”, he said.

    “That’s not going to help our communities feel safe. They want to know what’s going on,” Pakilau said.

    “It just feels like the government, DHBs and the officials are forgetting the community, and forgetting to communicate with us. Come and talk to us. The biggest problem is they are not willing to listen to Pacific voices.”

    Pakilau Manase Lua
    Pacific Response Coordination Team’s chair Pakilau Manase Lua … “The biggest problem is they are not willing to listen to Pacific voices.” Image: RNZ Pacific

    One location of interest in this latest outbreak is the Samoa Assemblies of God Church in the south Auckland suburb of Māngere.

    Reverend Victor Pouesi is the minister at the EFKS Puaseisei Magele Sasa’e – Māngere East Congregational Christian Church of Samoa.

    He said the church was one of the clusters in last year’s outbreak and some people are still confused about the “whole vaccination thing”.

    Engaging church, community
    He said the government should have engaged the church and community leaders in their response efforts.

    “Now it shows in this vaccination campaign, people feel more comfortable coming to church and getting vaccinated especially our Pacific people because that’s where they go for comfort, for spiritual nourishment and this is where they always meet,” he said.

    “If we are not able to get together and be a part of this response effort, things will get out of hand. Our people are already panicking, most of them fearing the worst.”

    Minister for Pacific Peoples ‘Aupito William Sio says more Pacific providers are needed and work is continuing on the roll out in Pacific communities.

    Aupito also said church leaders should advise their congregations to get tested, after it was revealed an infected person attended Sunday service.

    “We’re not blaming anybody other than the virus. But we really do need the cooperation of our church leaders, particularly when there is a positive test in and among your congregation.”

    ‘Aupito was adamant Pasifika will not be judged based on their ethnicity.

    Malia Su-emalo Lui (left cubicle) and Seumanu Va'a Robertson (right) receive information about Covid-19 vaccination before receiving the jab at a public vaccination event arranged by the Catholic Church in Wellington, 9 June 2021.
    Malia Su-emalo Lui (left cubicle) and Seumanu Va’a Robertson (right) receive information about Covid-19 vaccination before receiving the jab at a public vaccination event arranged by the Catholic Church in Wellington, 9 June 2021. Image: Johnny Blades /RNZ Pacific

    Strategy worries health experts
    Two Pacific clinical health experts and members of the government’s covid-19 response teams have expressed their concerns about the effectiveness of the strategies.

    Dr Collin Tukuitonga said the DHB’s mass vaccination event held in Mānukau, earlier this month, was ineffective in reaching Māori and Pacific communities.

    Dr Api Talemaitoga said “the event lacked Māori and Pasifika input”.

    “Current vaccination rollout strategies are highly top-down in approach and lack authentic Pacific community dialogue or initiative,” he said.

    “There have been some positive gains in information dissemination, however they have failed to mobilise Pacific communities to be vaccinated.”

    Auckland Pacific community leader Reverend Victor Pouesi.
    Auckland Pacific community leader Reverend Victor Pouesi … some people are still confused about the “whole vaccination thing”. Image: Christine Rovoi/RNZ Pacific

    Pakilau said that to increase Pacific vaccination numbers a “by community for community approach” was required — “that is a bottom-up approach.”

    “Pacific communities are at risk during the rising pandemic, and we must take community action.

    Top-down continues inequitable outcomes
    “The government rhetoric and top-down approach imposed on our communities continues inequitable outcomes.

    “To increase vaccination uptake for Pacific communities, a truly community designed, partnered approach that is resourced is required to equip and empower our leaders to mobilise their communities across the nation.

    “Pacific people stand with Māori when they fervently said ‘He tangata, he tangata, he tangata’. It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.”

    The Pacific Response to Covid-19 Team is a committee of the Pacific Leadership Forum and represents up to 10 Pacific ethnic groups from across the country.

    It was established in March 2020 to provide a community response to the pandemic.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • 41 new covid cases in New Zealand community, says Bloomfield

    RNZ News

    New Zealand reports there are 41 new cases of covid-19 in the community today, a day after the country’s lockdown was extended.

    This is the highest daily figure since the delta strain outbreak began just over a week ago and takes the total to 148 cases.

    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said 38 of the new cases were in Auckland and three in Wellington.

    The Wellington cases were among contacts first reached two evenings ago, and have known links to the outbreak.

    About 59 cases in the Auckland outbreak have not yet been epidemiologically linked to the outbreak, Dr Bloomfield said, but it was clear the vast majority of those were either are a close contact or were at a location of interest.

    There are eight covid-19-positive patients in hospital, none in ICU, all in pressure-isolated rooms.

    There are 80 genome sequences, all linked to the outbreak.

    Church-llnked subcluster
    Dr Bloomfield said the majority of cases in the outbreak were linked to the subcluster at the Assembly of God church in Auckland’s Māngere suburb.

    The second-biggest subcluster is associated with the first cases identified, which has 23 cases.

    More than 15,000 contacts
    As of 9am today there were 15,741 contacts formally identified, about 10 times as many as there were in the outbreak about this time last year in Auckland.

    There are now nearly 900 frontline contact tracers working around the country.

    There are 369 contacts who could be considered the “very closest contacts”.

    Dr Bloomfield said all cases were interviewed within 24 hours and 89 percent of close contacts were interviewed within 24 hours of a case notification.

    “The time from exposure event to contact identification, the metric is over 80 percent within 24 hours and that’s sitting at 75 percent at the moment.”

    100 extra locations of interest
    He said there were an additional 100 locations of interest since the last update, more than 400 in total.

    Yesterday, there were 35,376 tests processed across the country. Dr Bloomfield said the wait times had been lower, and more primary care providers had been performing them.

    He said wastewater testing from Warkworth had been negative, and genome sequencing suggests it was someone who was infected transited briefly through Warkworth.

    There are more than 2000 people working on the covid vaccination healthline. On its busiest day, August 19, the service spoke to more than 24,000 people.

    Vaccination rates and six subclusters
    Dr Bloomfield said vaccination rates for Pacific and Māori were similar to or slightly higher in each age group compared with other age groups.

    He said the rates were lower for Pacific in South Auckland than other areas which was why the government was working on reaching that community.

    Dr Bloomfield said modelling suggested the peak had not yet been hit, and while the numbers had increased today it was reassuring that cases had not risen exponentially.

    He said soon all the cases that would have arisen before lockdown would be identified.

    Dr Bloomfield was confident of infection prevention and control procedures at the vaccination centre near the Crowne Plaza managed isolation facility.

    He said testing suggested the transmission from the case who stayed at the Crowne Plaza did not come through staff, but it was still a possibility. Work was still being done to figure out how the virus got out.

    He said there had been scam test results texted to people and added that anyone who had tested positive would receive a phone call, not a text.

    Of the Assembly of God church cluster, he said it was a combination of people who were at the service as well as other members of the household and close contacts.

    Six subclusters
    He said there were six subclusters identified in the overall outbreak.

    There were about 27 different church groups that moved up to Auckland for the Assembly of God service, including some who travelled up from Wellington.

    More than 500 people have been tested as part of the cluster.

    “Anyone who is a close contact or has been in a high-risk setting, that testing is prioritised.” He says there are five testing stations around Auckland that are “invitation only”, and with the high demand there is currently a turnaround of about 48 hours.

    Finance Minister Grant Robertson said all the testing capacity around the country was being used, including talks with universities about resources there that can be brought on board.

    He said an MIQ worker at the Novotel in Ellerslie who tested positive yesterday was fully vaccinated and was a close contact of another case. The person worked one shift, he said; all others were being tested but it was not a case of the infection coming from MIQ.

    Dr Bloomfield said separate demographic information about the cases in the outbreak would be available from this afternoon and updated daily.

    Compliance
    Robertson said ministers received assurances from police that people were by and large being compliant.

    He said nothing about the lockdown having changed employment law, and while the wage subsidy was there to support those who could not work, people should be paid for the hours that they were working.

    On the seriousness of covid-19, Dr Bloomfield said if New Zealand followed the same approach as was seen in Scotland, about 10,000 people would have died within about 20 months.

    “Annually we have around 600 influenza-related deaths, so it’s a magnitude of difference, and that’s not counting all of the people who may have been infected many of whom we are seeing from studies around the world have ongoing symptoms.”

    He said even with the high vaccination rates seen in the UK, an uncontrolled outbreak would see the equivalent of about nine or 10 deaths a day in New Zealand.

    Robertson said significant additional testing was being stood up in Auckland and it did not make sense for people to be travelling from Auckland to Thames to get a test.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pacific churchgoers urged to isolate as cluster cases identified in Wellington

    RNZ Pacific

    New Zealand health officials are concerned about a cluster of covid-19 cases linked to a Pacific church in Auckland’s Māngere suburb.

    The Ministry of Health is urging members of a Samoan church to isolate and get tested after multiple covid-19 cases have now been identified as having attended last Sunday a week ago.

    Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has highlighted this as a location of particular importance to the outbreak.

    “Several of the new cases announced to date are linked to a church service at the Samoan Assembly of God Church in Māngere last Sunday, August 15,” Dr Bloomfield said at a media conference yesterday.

    The cluster has spread to Wellington, too.

    “There is a number of cases now around that event, including three of our cases down here in Wellington who had been at that event in Auckland.”

    The attendees at the church that day (33 Andrew Baxter Drive, Māngere, between 9am and 3pm) are being asked to isolate for 14 days from the exposure date.

    Another busy day
    That means they have to stay apart from other members of their household, as well as get tested, which they have been heeding.

    “Another busy day – 1023 swabs all up. We’ve had a lot of the Pacific community come through,” said Michelle Tukia, lead nurse at South Seas Healthcare which runs the Ōtara testing centre.

    In addition to those swabs, a special pop-up centre set up at a nearby Samoan Assembly of God church took 500 swabs yesterday.

    Auckland councillor for the Māngere ward Alf Filipaina is urging people to comply for the sake of their family.

    “Because you don’t want to get them infected. This is even more important to do because of the variant. Protect your family by protecting yourself,” Filipaina said.

    “Look it’s hard – with the extending aiga whanau I’ve got, and many other Pacific and Māori [do] – you just have to be very careful.”

    While it is only one of a number of large events, it is a top focus for the Ministry of Health.

    Contact tracing priority
    “This is a priority for our contact tracing efforts. What we have seen in the past of course is that Pacific community leaders are very good at mobilising the community to get tested.

    “This is coming through in our testing results – by far the highest rate of testing is among our Pacific community, and we want to encourage that.”

    Filipaina said the community has squashed covid-19 before, and it can do it again.

    “When it happened at Mt Roskill, and hit South Auckland, Papatoetoe High School, we ended up getting through that … if we just follow the same [procedure].”

    Testing centres are open again today.

    Lockdown plus decision today
    Meanwhile, RNZ reports that New Zealand will find out today if the covid-19 lockdown is going to be extended.

    The government will announce any lockdown changes at 4pm but it has already signalled Auckland is likely to remain in lockdown a while longer.

    The number of community cases of covid-19 grew by 21 yesterday, 20 in Auckland and one in Wellington, taking the total number in the current outbreak to 72.

    The country’s contact tracing system has hit capacity and and more contact tracers, especially Pacific, are being urgently recruited for Auckland.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pacific health provider fears for covid-forced lockdown hardships

    By Sarah Robson, RNZ News social issues reporter

    A Pacific health and social service provider in Auckland fears the city’s fifth lockdown will push families back into hardship.

    Fono chief executive Tevita Funaki said that before the latest covid-19 outbreak, many whanau had been getting back on their feet economically.

    But the prospect of a prolonged period at alert level 4 would be a real setback for them, he said.

    “We are very concerned around the level of hardship of families, I think families were starting to get back into normality.”

    The lockdown would be a tipping point for many and Funaki said many people would be feeling stressed and anxious.

    In previous lockdowns, they had also seen an increase in family violence.

    The Fono is gearing up to provide more food, financial, welfare and mental health support in the coming weeks.

    Funaki said Pacific agencies across Auckland would be working with community leaders to ensure families have access to what they need.

    Families with children would be experiencing added pressure, with schools reverting to online learning.

    Funaki said many households were overcrowded and still did not have access to devices or internet connections.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • AUT student among 10 new delta cases of covid-19 in NZ lockdown

    An Auckland University of Technology (AUT) student who was at a lecture yesterday is among the 10 new cases of covid-19 reported in the community in New Zealand today.

    This takes the total to 11 cases of the highly infectious delta variant since the first one was announced yesterday.

    There were three new community cases of covid-19 reported this evening by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office. More details on the new cases will be revealed tomorrow.

    The AUT student was at a social sciences lecture at the school’s City Campus between 11.30am and 1pm yesterday.

    The school has identified 84 other people who were at the lecture.

    Speaking to RNZ Checkpoint, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins also confirmed there had been new cases.

    “We’re seeing more cases coming through, I don’t have details of those cases. But yes, I can confirm that we have further positive test results since the press conference today.”

    Not the index case
    Hipkins also said it was “almost certain” the first case announced yesterday, a 58-year-old Devonport man, was not the index case connected to the border.

    “Almost certain they were given covid-19 by someone else. What we’re trying to do is identify how many steps in that chain of transmission there are before we got to the Devonport case.”

    He added that a decision on vaccinating people under 16 years old for covid-19 would come soon.

    “I’m not announcing something on your show tonight but you can expect to hear more very shortly on that.”

    Meanwhile, the Countdown supermarket chain is continuing to limit the amount of some products people can buy in Auckland and the Coromandel, as shelves empty in the latest lockdown.

    The supermarket applied a limit of six on some products yesterday evening, which includes toilet paper, flour, bags of rice, dry pasta, UHT milk, frozen vegetables, baby formula and pet food.

    It says it will monitor stock levels around the country and will make changes to limits if needed.

    Countdown also says it has purchased an extra 2000 crates of fresh fruit and vegetables to boost its fresh produce supply.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Cook Islands suspends travel bubble with New Zealand – 5 delta cases

    Cook Islands News

    Cook Islands has suspended the travel bubble with New Zealand after NZ officials reported new covid-19 community cases in Auckland.

    Four new community cases have been reported by health authorities — including an Auckland nurse — taking the total to five.

    The new cases are all linked to yesterday’s first case in Auckland, which has been confirmed as delta variant.

    “While the epidemiological variance and transmission link for the community case in New Zealand is still being investigated, we must act swiftly here to minimise exposure risk for the Cook Islands so we remain safe,” said Prime Minister Mark Brown.

    This alert level change will mean that international inwards passenger arrivals for 72 hours through to Thursday have been suspended.

    The pause on international arrivals will allow Te Marae Ora Ministry of Health to test arriving passengers from August 11.

    This also means domestic travel to the Pa Enua from Rarotonga is suspended until Thursday.

    Passengers can return to NZ
    Passengers can return to New Zealand from Rarotonga. Passengers from Pa Enua can return back to Rarotonga.

    The alert level change and travel bubble suspension was announced after a 58-year-old Devonport man tested positive yesterday in Auckland, New Zealand, after visiting a GP. He was infectious from August 12.

    The man, who was not vaccinated, and his wife travelled to Coromandel over the weekend. His wife was fully vaccinated.

    He is considered to have become infectious on August 12. There were 23 locations of interest, 10 in Auckland and 13 in Coromandel.

    Auckland and Coromandel went into level 4 lockdown for seven days – and the rest of New Zealand for three days – from 11.59pm (NZ time) last night.

    While announcing the nationwide alert level change last night, Prime Minister Brown said the Cabinet made the decision based on the information available “at this time, all necessary precautions have been considered”.

    “While the epidemiological variance and transmission link for the community case in New Zealand is still being investigated, we must act swiftly here to minimise exposure risk for the Cook Islands so we remain safe,” Brown said.

    Cooks Cabinet to meet
    “This is a good time to remind ourselves of the need to practice good hygiene measures, and to actively tag in with Cooksafe and Cooksafe+.”

    The Cook Islands Cabinet will meet again today to consider new updated information received and next steps.

    New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last night the positive case could not be confirmed as delta until genome sequencing was confirmed today, but every recent MIQ case had been delta.

    Today Ardern confirmed that all five cases were the delta variant.

    “We’ve seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours … the (family) bubble is back,” she said.

    Ardern said the delta variant was potentially twice as infectious and more liable to cause severe illness.

    “We are one of the last countries in the world to have the delta variant in our community. This has given us the chance to learn from others.”

    She said delta was a “game-changer” and there needed to be a rapid response to stop the spread.

    “We only get one chance.”

    Ardern said physical distancing was even more important given how easily delta can be transmitted – including through the air. There would be a 48-hour window for people to relocate in New Zealand.

    Cook Islands News stories are republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Tahiti’s ‘wedding of the year’ turns into a political row over covid hypocrisy

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Ena Manuireva

    Two days after President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Mā’ohi Nui last month, where the French leader urged the local population to get vaccinated against the danger of the new  delta variant of the covid pandemic already on the islands, High Commissioner Domique Sorain and territorial President Édouard Fritch announced a new set of orders aimed at prohibiting unlawful gatherings.

    Here is the wording of High Commissioner Sorain on local television on July 30:

    “All festive events such as weddings, birthdays and baby showers, along with concerts in cafes, hotels and restaurants are prohibited” – Tahiti Infos

    Sorain added a caveat that would allow restaurants and other food courts to operate if the number of guests was less than 500, with six people a table, with no dancing and performances allowed — and with respecting all protective measures already in place.

    Any breach would result in a fine of up to NZ$235.

    Five days after these announcements — and in the middle of the restrictions imposed to combat the spread of the new delta variant — Vice-President Teari’i Te Moana Alpha celebrated his wedding.

    His guest list included nearly all the members of the local government (the ministers of Health and of Culture were not present) for a total number of around 300 guests at Tahiti’s Paul Gauguin Restaurant.

    Wedding shown on Facebook
    This event was shown on the Facebook social media platform, thanks to the work of well-known local journalist Vaite Urarii Pambrun and was viewed by thousands of internet users.

    This triggered a torrent of critical comment — and at times insults — hurled at the members of the government for their blatant hypocrisy.

    Journalist Pambrun also became the target of violent diatribes on social media and she was called a “snitch” by the local government’s supporters for reporting what was happening in broad daylight.

    It did not help that President Fritch gave another one of his awful speeches at the wedding where he told the audience to simply throw Pambrun in the water if they ever saw her.

    The wedding of the vice president: Fritch minimises and says sorry, Sorain remaining firm (Tahiti Infos)

    It must be remembered that many people who transgressed against the measures imposed since March last year were fined by the High Commissioner.

    Tahiti wedding headline
    “L’incompréhension” … says the banner headline on Tahiti-Infos on a story about the celebrity wedding at the Paul Gauguin Restaurant in Tahiti. Image: Tahiti-Infos screenshot

    Equal penalty?
    One might have expected an equal penalty for all those who took part in the wedding of the year.

    In a typical administrative and French fashion, the High Commissioner promised on August 8 that an investigation had been launched into the fiasco.

    Somehow the comments flooding social media platforms talked about a cover-up since at least one important representative of the French state was present at the wedding, and the gendarmes (French National Police) who were sent to the restaurant came out without putting an end to the wedding like they had done on other occasions.

    It also emerged that some months before, the High Commissioner was asked for  authorisation to allow the wedding to go ahead, but he did not grant it.

    It is ironic that the High Commissioner, who did know about the presence of one of his colleagues and the gendarmes at the wedding, did not make the decision to stop it.

    To reassert his authority, the High Commissioner was quickly back on television this week  to remind Tahitians once more about the importance of sticking to the preventive measures in place.

    But he also called upon the political personalities who were at the wedding to provide an explanation.

    Tahitian media responses to celebrity wedding
    Responses over the celebrity wedding of the vice-president controversy … President Fritch (left): “excuses” but “sorry”; High Commissioner Sorain: “steadfast”. Image: Tahiti-Infos screenshot

    High Commissioner doubles down
    He doubled down by saying that he sent the gendarmes to make a statement and that those found guilty of the breach would be fined and dealt with.

    Many viewed this intervention as a stark warning to the members of government and other very important political personalities who were involved.

    It signalled the beginning of a break in communication between President Fritch and High Commissioner Sorain.

    President Fritch also went on television this week to respond, when asked why he waited four days to speak out, that he had wanted to see clearly what the situation was.  He did not want to intervene straight after the wedding.

    Clearly he was afraid to add oil to the fire straight after pictures of the wedding were posted on social media.

    In his interview, he admitted that the issue was not the number of guests or the preventive measures that, according to him, were followed (although pictures and videos seemed to contradict him). Howdever, it was the live music and the performances that ensued which should never have happened.

    Fritch acknowledged that the behaviour of wedding guests was not exemplary and for that he was extremely sorry.

    Wedding guests not above law
    He also admitted that wedding guests were not above the law, and he understood the public’s disappointment.

    Fritch and his government extended an unreserved apology to the public concerning the wedding party’s “lack of judgment”. He said that the investigation was still running and he and his government would take responsibility.

    It is difficult to see any kind of sincerity in President Fritch’s comments on television when we know that he lied about the danger of nuclear testing and that he was found guilty and fined for abuse of public funds.

    The question remains that neither of the two government leaders have given any reasons for breaking the law — why did the police not put an end to the wedding like they had done for other festive events?

    Reaction from deputies Moetai Brotherson and Nicole Sanquer
    Deputy Moetai Brotherson of the opposition pro-independence party Tavini Huiraatira also found himself in hot water when people saw that he attended the wedding.

    He said that he decided to leave the wedding and talk to Vaite Pambrun when unjust attacks were made against the local journalist by President Fritch.

    Moetai has tried to justify his presence at the wedding by saying that he came to see the man and not Vice-President Teari’i Alpha and that he had already accepted the invitation well before the restrictions were in place.

    However, in hindsight he admitted that it was wrong to have gone to the wedding and he was ready to pay the fine.

    He was the first to apologise for his lack of judgement. He was however perplexed about the gendarmes who were at the wedding and did not stop it.

    He assumed that the High Commissioner had given authorisation for the event.

    Non-aligned Deputy Nicole Sanquer has been more scathing towards the members of the local government which she was once a member of.

    ‘Law and sanctions are for others’
    Using her own quote: “Law and sanctions are for others”, Sanquer shamed President Fritch who liked to remind the population that it was their duty to behave in an exemplary fashion during this pandemic.

    On August 5, people witnessed a real scandal.

    At a wedding that gathered hundreds of people with nearly all the members of the government and elected members of the parliament, and in the middle of a concert orchestrated by Fritch and Pape’ete Mayor Michel Buillard, Sanquer said:

    “I could not find the words to describe such irresponsibility and lack of common sense. What credibility do they have now?”.

    The High Commissioner reminded Tahitians of the rules to follow but what was seen on Facebook showed a lack of respect for the rules.

    Why didn’t the High Commissioner put an end to the party like they usually do in the city centre? Are some people exempt from the law and sanctions?

    Deputy Sanquer expressed special support for fairground workers, restaurant owners, artists, frontline doctors, nurses, and the whole Ma’ohi Nui population.

    ‘Carry on fighting the pandemic’
    She added: “Let’s carry on fighting against this pandemic by protecting ourselves and above all not rely on the example of those who govern us.”

    Tahiti covid health statistics Aug 10 2021
    Tahitian renewed covid-19 crisis health statistics at at August 10. Image: Tahitian Health Ministry

    From a political stance, the question that should be in people’s mind is the following: are Fritch and Sorain the right people to govern Ma’ohi Nui when one considers himself above the law and the other seems reluctant to apply the law.

    Alarming figures about the number of fatalities by covid-19.

    The latest figures at the time of writing show 176 deaths (including 10 in 24 hours with 2 at home), 185 people in hospital (26 patients in ICU), and 1075 new cases, making it a total of more than 24,977 cases. There are 3,869 cases still active.

    The number of people vaccinated with at least one dose is 103,033 since January 18, 2021.

    Editor’s note: Since this article was written a further five people have died in Tahiti.

    Ena Manuireva, born in Mangareva (Gambier islands) in Ma’ohi Nui (French Polynesia), is a language revitalisation researcher at Auckland University of Technology and is currently completing his doctorate on the Mangarevan language. He is also a campaigner for nuclear reparations justice from France over the 193 tests staged in Polynesia over three decades.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Micronesian leaders boycott Forum, stand firm on plan to leave bloc

    By Bernadette Carreon of Pacific Island Times

    Four Micronesian leaders skipped the Pacific Islands Forum’s 51st virtual session yesterday, in a continuing protest over the organisation’s refusal to assign the leadership post to the subregion as previously agreed.

    Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s official apology proved not convincing enough to break the impasse and appease the Micronesian leaders.

    The Micronesian nations — Palau, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati and Nauru — declined to reconsider their collective decision to exit from the regional body if the gentleman’s agreement was not honoured.

    Nauru President Lionel Aingimea, chair of the Micronesian Presidents’ Summit (MPS), was the only leader from the breakaway group who attended today’s meeting, where PIF discussed a planned in-person leaders’ retreat scheduled for 2022.

    In a statement issued after the meeting, Aingimea said Micronesian leaders “are standing on the principles of the Mekreos Communique” and “are not attending the retreat”.

    “The Mekreos Communique articulates that if the long-standing gentlemen’s agreement is not honoured, then the Micronesian presidents see no benefit in remaining with PIF,” Aingimea said.

    The Mekreos Communique
    The Mekreos Communique

    The Mekreos Communique is a declaration signed by Palau, FSM, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati in 2020.

    Micronesians support Zackios
    The Micronesian leaders maintain that their candidate, Ambassador Gerald M. Zackios, must assume the secretary-general position in line with the gentlemen’s agreement’ for sub-regional rotation.

    “Presidents agreed that the solidarity and integrity of the PIF are strengthened by the gentlemen’s agreement, that this issue is one of respect and Pacific unity, and that it is non-negotiable for the Member States. Presidents agreed that in the ‘Pacific Way’, a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ is an agreement, and if this agreement is not honoured, then the presidents would see no benefit to remaining in the PIF,” the Mekreos Communique stated.

    Nauru, FSM, RMI and Palau commenced the process for withdrawal from the PIF in February 2021 and will take effect by February 2022.

    The 51st Pacific Islands Forum Leaders virtual meeting today also coincided with the 50th Anniversary of the Pacific Islands Forum.

    Nauru is a founding member of the Forum, along with six others — Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga and Western Samoa (now Samoa).

    Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano handed over as Forum Chair to host leader of the 51st Pacific Islands Forum, Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

    Bainarama welcomed Secretary-General Henry Puna and said they were looking forward to working with him.

    Samoan PM welcomed
    Bainarama also welcomed Samoa’s new Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata-afa to the meeting.

    While the forum celebrates 50 years of milestones, it is also facing a crisis with the looming fracture of the regional body.

    Bainarama apologised anew to the Micronesian head of states over the PIF secretariat leadership row.

    “To our Micronesian brothers, I offer my deepest apology, we could have handled the situation better, but I remain confident that we will find a way forward together,”

    “I hope this meeting provides an avenue for frank dialogue,” Bainarama said.

    He said he did not expect a resolution of the rift yesterday but he said the forum would continue dialogue with the Micronesian leaders.

    “None of us can do this alone,” he said, and urged solidarity and to retain Pacific regionalism, especially on the issue of climate change and covid-19-related economic crisis.

    Puna in his statement said the region was in the midst of “unprecedented challenges” of covid pandemic, climate change, and geopolitical interests.

    He also cited the challenges the forum is facing among the members.

    “Our bond as one forum family is being put to the extreme test,” Puna said.

    But he was hopeful that the members would stay together with continued dialogue.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Madang nurse tests positive as PNG covid delta fears rise after eight cases

    By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby

    A female nurse in Madang is the first local Papua New Guinean to be tested positive for the highly infectious coronavirus covid-19 delta strain, with health officials scrambling to find out where she got it from.

    She becomes the eighth confirmed case in Papua New Guinea. The other seven cases recorded so far are:

    • A woman from Myanmar who had been in hotel quarantine since arriving in PNG. She was a close contact of another traveller who had tested positive on July 13. Both have since recovered; and
    • Six Filipino crew members, including the captain, of a vessel which arrived from Indonesia last month. Four were in isolation on the vessel while the captain and another were in isolation at a private hospital in Port Moresby. All have recovered, and the Covid-19 National Control Centre (NCC) allowed the vessel to leave the country.

    Controller of the PNG Covid-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning said the concern now was on the nurse in Madang.

    Controller of the PNG Covid-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning said the concern now was on the nurse in Madang.

    “This is a local case, outside of Port Moresby and (not associated) with the (Filipino vessel crew members) cluster tests,” he said.

    “This proves community transmission which is of particular concern to us.

    “Finding the infection source”
    “We are working on finding the source of the infection in Madang.”

    He said the NCC would continue to update the public on the Madang case.

    “She had presented with symptoms on June 30, and immediately went into isolation while awaiting test results,” he said.

    “She then remained in quarantine until she was no longer symptomatic.

    “But when her positive test result revealed a high viral load, a sample was sent to the Doherty Institute in Melbourne for whole genomic sequencing.”

    Manning warned that if the delta strain was to spread in PNG, it could result in “thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of people becoming very sick”.

    He also warned about a potential third wave of covid-19 infections and urged the people to follow covid-19 public safety measures and get vaccinated.

    “PNG has done well under the international health regulations by detecting the covid-19 celta variant cases, managing them and discharging them when they were cleared medically from isolation.”

    The genomic sequencing results for each of the eight confirmed covid-19 delta strain cases were received from the Doherty Institute in Melbourne on August 4.

    Miriam Zarriga is a reporter for The National. This article is republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Fiji faces 1220 new covid cases, seven deaths as infections still rise

    RNZ Pacific

    Covid-19 infections continue to rise in Fiji with 1220 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours to 8am yesterday.

    The government also confirmed seven more deaths, bringing the toll to 261.

    That compares with 1100 cases and 13 deaths in the previous 24-hour period.

    Health Secretary Dr James Fong said the seven deaths were reported between 31 July 31 and 2 August.

    He said all but two of the victims were not vaccinated.

    Dr Fong said six of the victims were in the Central Division and one in the Western Division.

    • A 24-year-old man from Tailevu presented to a medical facility in severe respiratory distress. A medical team brought him to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva on 1 August. He died on his way to the hospital. His family reported that he was experiencing shortness of breath one week prior to his presentation to the health centre.
    • A 78-year-old man from Kalabu in Nasinu died at home on 1 August.
    • An 85-year-old woman from Nasinu died at home on 2 August.
    • A 67-year-old woman from Nabua had died at home on 1 August.
    • A 65-year-old man from Sigatoka was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital. Dr Fong said this means the man had died either at home or on his way to the hospital.
    • A 48-year-old woman from Nabena village died at home on 2 August. Her family reported that she had a cough, fever, shortness of breath and chest pain for a week before her death.
    • A 54-year-old man from Cunningham died at home on 31 July.
    Fiji's Chief Medical Adviser Jemesa Tudravu
    Fiji’s Chief Medical Adviser Jemesa Tudravu … “all our major health facilities remain fully functional in all divisions.” Image: RNZ/Fiji govt

    Three other people who tested positive to covid-19 had also died but their deaths have been classified as not caused by the virus.

    Dr Fong said that out of the 1220 latest cases, 756 were from the Central Division while the rest are from the west.

    He said there had been 1113 recoveries since the last update that meant there were now 22,689 active cases; 18,506 active cases in the Central Division and 4183 in the West.

    Covid-patients on oxygen support, ventilators
    Meanwhile, 64 covid patients are on oxygen support while three are on ventilators, Chief Medical adviser Dr Jemesa Tudravu said.

    He said 332 infected people were admitted in hospital facilities, with 84 in a severe or critical condition.

    A total of 384,200 individuals had been screened and 70,744 swabbed, Dr Tudravu said.

    He also said all major health services were operational across the country.

    Dr Tudravu said the ministry was concerned about the increase in the number of new cases and deaths in the country.

    “In terms of health services, all our major health facilities remain fully functional in all divisions providing emergency services, admissions, and inpatient care for Covid and non-covid patients,” he said.

    Dr Tudravu said a patient care-flow pathway has been established to ensure that all cases of Covid-19 are identified and followed up.

    “This essentially means that if a patient is diagnosed with Covid-19, that patient will be directed to a care plan where the patient will be admitted at home and followed up through telehealth.

    “They can also be admitted to an intermediate care facility such as the field hospital and cared for by our team or admitted at the main hospital for high-level care.”

    Fiji now has 22,689 active cases in isolation and 261 deaths, 259 of them from the latest outbreak that began in April.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Vaccine resistance in West Papua as covid-19 pandemic rages

    By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific journalist

    As with much of Indonesia, the country’s easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua are struggling to contain the spread of covid-19, with the delta variant on the loose.

    In their latest update, health authorities in Papua province reported 33,826 confirmed cases of the virus to date, as well as 794 known deaths. In West Papua province, there were 18,027 confirmed cases and 278 deaths.

    Earlier this week, the Papua provincial health spokesman Silvanus Sumule spoke to media outside a hospital in downtown Jayapura, explaining that hospital capacity had passed 100 percent, while they were short of oxygen tanks for covid patients.

    Patients were being treated in corridors or outside the building, the sort of desperate scenes being experienced across Indonesia, which has become the latest epicentre of the pandemic in Asia, with more than 3.2 million cases and 90,000 deaths from covid.

    Papua provincial health spokesman Silvanus Sumule July 2021
    Papua provincial health spokesman Silvanus Sumule outside a hospital in downtown Jayapura this week as he explains the strain on the health system from covid-19. Image: RNZ

    But the health system in Papua is weaker than most other parts of the republic, adding to fears that the virus is on track to cause devastation in indigenous Papuan communities.

    A human rights adviser to the Papuan People’s Assembly, Wensi Fatubun, said that with the Delta variant rampaging through communities, Papua’s provincial government had sought a full lockdown for the month of August.

    “So the local government announced for the lockdown. But the national government doesn’t want Papua province locked down, and to use different restrictions on community activities.”

    With Jakarta having overruled Papua’s local government on the matter, the onus goes on how people respond to the restrictions on gatherings as well as safety measures. But adherence to these basic measures has been mixed in Papua during the pandemic.

    “We are really worried with covid-19. If it goes to the remote areas, we don’t know, maybe many, many indigenous Papuans will die, because there’s not enough doctors, nurses, and also health facilities,” Fatubun said.

    Across Jayapura, there has been a spate of burials in recent days — another sign of the surge in covid-19 cases, which could be significantly higher than official statistics show.

    ‘Many Papuans are dying’
    To avert the death rate growing more out of control, the national government of President Joko Widodo is focussing on efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible in the coming weeks and months.

    Abepura cemetery, Jayapura, Papua, 25 July, 2021
    Abepura cemetery … a spate of burials in Jayapura in recent days – a sign of the surge in local deaths from covid-19. Image: RNZ

    But so far only around 7 percent of the population of 270 million have had at least a first dose of the vaccine. In Papua region, the take-up is understood to be lower than average.

    The moderator of the Papuan Council of Churches, Reverend Benny Giay said many West Papuans were resisting the vaccine rollout, chiefly because of the role of Indonesian security forces who he said indigenous Papuans deeply mistrusted.

    “In the past few months, in several districts, it’s the military and police who accompanied medical teams who go promoting the vaccines. But people turn them away. It’s very difficult to convince the people,” he said.

    Given the ongoing violent conflict between Indonesian security forces and West Papuan independence fighters, as well as decades of human rights abuses and racism against Papuans, Reverend Giay said the resistance was understandable.

    “The reality here is that they’ve gone through this crisis and violence, and the government is involving military and police to be part of this and we don’t like that.”

    Warning against misinformation
    Reverend Giay wants his people to get vaccinated, and is urging Papuans to not be dissuaded by misinformation propagated on social media. He suggested outside help was required.

    “Many Papuans are dying. We’ve been calling international community for help — maybe the International Red Cross, maybe a humanitarian intervention to convince our people (to get vaccinated).”

    This proposal is highly unlikely to be accepted by the Indonesian government which has long restricted outside access to Papua.

    Jakarta continues with a business-as-usual approach in the remote eastern region, and is sticking to its plans for Papua to host the Indonesia National Games in October which will bring in many people form other parts of the country.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Solomon Islands covid vaccination plan kicks off – delta variant threat

    By Robert Iroga in Honiara

    The Solomon Islands government has kicked off its full rollout of its nationwide covid vaccination strategy.

    Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said in his nationwide address that with the increasing threat from the highly transmissible delta variant of covid-19, the government had decided to implement a full rollout of vaccination in all provinces for all adults aged over 18.

    “We have now reached the stage where we must roll-out our covid-19 vaccination throughout the nation for all adults that are 18 years of age and over,” he said.

    Sogavare said the strategy was to vaccinate all eligible adults in the country to ensure that the risk of widespread community transmission was minimised if the delta variant entered the country.

    The Prime Minister said the level of risk had also been raised and that every person travelling to Solomon Islands from high-risk countries or countries with community transmission of covid-19 must be fully vaccinated before they would be allowed into the country.

    Prime Minister Sogavare said more than 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines were available with development partners committed to supply more doses.

    He said the Ministry of Health had recently conducted a “training of trainers” workshop’ for all provincial health directors, doctors, nurses, data, and registration officers in the past weeks as the national covid-19 vaccination rollout commences.

    Further training
    “The trained provincial teams will conduct further training for provincial health workers in their respective provinces throughout this month of July to support their provincial covid-19 vaccination roll out,” he said.

    Prime Minister Sogavare said that as part of the nationwide strategy, 131 newly registered nurses had also been trained in covid-19 treatment, including vaccination.

    He said many of them would be deployed to the provinces to support the provincial teams in rolling out the vaccination.

    “I thank the Ministry of Health senior executive for their leadership in coordinating the national vaccination roll-out plan with all the provincial health directors and their teams,” he said.

    Prime Minister Sogavare also acknowledged the lord mayor and his executive for taking the lead in the national covid-19 vaccination rollout in Honiara last week.

    Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has reiterated his call for all adults 18 years and over living in and around Honiara to get their vaccinations at the Central Field Hospital and other outreach vaccination centers.

    The national covid-19 vaccination rollout programme for Guadalcanal province also started last week at Malanago ward.

    Several “outreach vaccination sites” had been set up in Malanago ward in Central Guadalcanal.

    The mobile vaccination team would travel to other wards after the rollout programme in Malanago ward was completed.

    Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PNG in bid to stem rising covid-19 cases by tightening air travel rules

    By Rebecca Kuku in Port Moresby

    As the delta variant of covid-19 spreads to more than 96 countries, Papua New Guinea has put in tighter measures that include all incoming passengers and crew to be vaccinated before boarding any international flight entering the country.

    Police Commissioner David Manning, who is also Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response, released the new control measures yesterday.

    Under the updated measures, all incoming passengers and crew should be vaccinated before boarding an international flight coming into PNG.

    And the mandatory quarantine period has been extended to 21 days for all incoming travellers, with covid-19 tests to be undertaken on the first, seventh and final day of quarantine.

    Scheduled flights can continue as normal, while unscheduled flights require approval from the Controller.

    Manning said the new measures were aimed at preventing the spread of the covid-19 delta mutation.

    PNG is struggling with widespread community transmission of the virus, with more than 17,000 confirmed cases and rising.

    ‘Serious threat’
    “The delta strain of covid-19 poses a serious threat to our country, and we will do everything we can to prevent or delay its arrival and spread,” Manning said.

    Institute of the National Affairs executive director Paul Barker has welcomed the new measures, saying that the restrictions on international flights are really wise — but they also needs to apply to the West Papua border with Indonesia.

    “The variant is dominant in India and has become dominant in a short time in Fiji, UK, and South Africa, and is spreading fast in US, and lately has slipped into UK,” he said.

    “It’s 60 percent more infectious than the UK variant, which was 60 percent more infectious than the original virus we have here.”

    “It’s good to keep it out as long as we can, but it’s already spreading fast in Indonesia, so it will be challenging.”

    Overseas destinations
    Meanwhile, Air Niugini has also released a statement advising passengers on Air Niugini international flights departing from overseas destinations on or after Friday, July 2, 2021, and entering PNG, must now :

    • Be fully vaccinated against covid-19, and provide evidence in the form of a vaccination certificate at check-in;
    • Quarantine for 21 days on arrival in PNG at the individual’s expense;
    • All previous approvals for home quarantine, or shorter quarantine period, have been revoked by the Controller; and
    • All previous Controller approvals for a person to enter PNG as required under previous Measure 2 remain effective, but are now subject to the new direction.

    There are no changes to the requirements for international passengers departing from PNG.

    Air Niugini continues to operate six flights a week to Brisbane, one flight to Sydney, four flights per week to Singapore, and twice weekly flights each to Manila and Hong Kong.

    Rebecca Kuku is a senior journalist with the PNG Post-Courier. This article is republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pleas for Fijians to take covid-19 more seriously with 274 more cases

    RNZ Pacific

    Health authorities in Fiji have confirmed 274 infections of covid-19 in the 24-hour period ending at 8am today as they have warned people to take the pandemic more seriously.

    Health Secretary Dr James Fong told a media conference last night he was back in quarantine after coming into contact with a positive patient.

    Earlier this month, Dr Fong was in isolation as a potential primary contact for another medical team member.

    Making reference to the ministry’s online map, he said Viti Levu was now in a situation of community transmission where there are cases throughout the Central Division.

    “As we’ve made clear throughout the week, our cases are climbing and we are expecting that the daily case average will continue to rise, including an increase in individuals suffering severe covid-19,” Dr Fong said.

    He said they had also identified a new area of concern in Rifle Range, Lautoka. This had followed a cluster of new cases stemming from a birthday party with more than 14 people in attendance from various locations in Lautoka.

    No new deaths
    Dr Fong said while there were no new deaths to be reported, there had been three tragic deaths during this latest outbreak which started in April.

    He said the deaths had occurred before the medical teams could offer any treatment. One patient died at home and two others were declared dead-on-arrival at the hospital.

    Dr Fong urged anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms to “please report to your nearest screening clinic now.”

    The health ministry’s highest priority is to provide life-saving treatment, he said.

    “Over the next few weeks as the case numbers increase, the isolation facilities will get tested. Only severe cases will be at the isolation facilities, others will be in-home isolation.”

    Provided groceries
    Those in-home isolation will be provided groceries and other essentials, Dr Fong said.

    “165 is the number to call if you need to be taken to a Covid-19 Care Centre. A new intermediate facility is being set up at the National Gymnasium in Suva.”

    Dr Fong said they are bracing for a wave of new cases in the next four to five days.

    “The ideal place to get swabbed if you believe you have symptoms is the screening clinics.”

    While 50 percent of the target population had received their first jab, Dr Fong said he was concerned at those still opposing the vaccine.

    “This is a new vaccine because this is a new disease and it can defeat this virus.”

    Official announcements
    Meanwhile, all official announcements regarding the government’s covid-19 response efforts will only be made by the Health Ministry.

    This comes amid wide circulation of a fake advisory of the change in curfew hours via social media.

    In a statement, the National Disasters Management Office (NDMO) urged the public to disregard all false and misleading posts as such.

    “Stop spreading misinformation and continue to adhere to all covid-19 safety measures and protocols in place,” the NDMO said.

    Earlier, police issued a statement saying any changes made would be announced to the public.

    As for now, the curfew from 10pm to 4am (local time) for containment zones and some parts of the country remains unchanged, police chief Rusiate Tudravu said.

    Plea to follow rules
    He pleaded with the public to continue to adhere to the health restrictions in place.

    More than 1,000 people, mostly intoxicated, have been arrested for breach of curfew and health-related restrictions.

    Tudravu said some people were arrested for drinking kava.

    Police will continue to monitor and enforce these restrictions, he said.

    Fiji now has 3,503 positive people in isolation with 19 deaths reported since this latest outbreak started in mid-April.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.