Tonga closed its borders on Wednesday after recording the first community cases of Covid-19 were detected amid relief efforts after it was hit by a major volcano and a tsunami last month.
The lockdown began days after the Pacific island nation began receiving foreign aid in the wake of a deadly volcanic eruption that also generated a tsunami around the Pacific.
The first of Tonga’s community cases were detected in two-port workers in the capital, Nuku’alofa, on Tuesday, officials said the men were not on the docks being used by foreign vessels delivering emergency assistance. On Wednesday, three new Covid-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to five, the Prime Minister said, according to Radio New Zealand. The new infections are a woman and her two children who had tested positive for the virus less than 24 hours after two-port workers.
“The most important issue at the moment is for us to slow down [the spread of the virus] and stop those who have been affected. That is the reason for our national lockdown,” Tonga Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni told an emergency press conference on Wednesday.
He said the COVID situation in the country would be reassessed every 48 hours, and the government would decide whether to end or extend the lockdown depending on the outcome.
Tonga was one of only a small number of countries not to report a single Covid infection, having closed its borders in March 2020. In November 2021, a traveler flying from New Zealand tested positive but was picked up in the country's quarantine hotel system. Still, Tonga went into lockdown following that case.
The lockdown began days after the Pacific island nation began receiving foreign aid in the wake of a deadly volcanic eruption that also generated a tsunami around the Pacific.
The first of Tonga’s community cases were detected in two-port workers in the capital, Nuku’alofa, on Tuesday, officials said the men were not on the docks being used by foreign vessels delivering emergency assistance. On Wednesday, three new Covid-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to five, the Prime Minister said, according to Radio New Zealand. The new infections are a woman and her two children who had tested positive for the virus less than 24 hours after two-port workers.
“The most important issue at the moment is for us to slow down [the spread of the virus] and stop those who have been affected. That is the reason for our national lockdown,” Tonga Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni told an emergency press conference on Wednesday.
He said the COVID situation in the country would be reassessed every 48 hours, and the government would decide whether to end or extend the lockdown depending on the outcome.
Tonga was one of only a small number of countries not to report a single Covid infection, having closed its borders in March 2020. In November 2021, a traveler flying from New Zealand tested positive but was picked up in the country's quarantine hotel system. Still, Tonga went into lockdown following that case.
