Disaster-struck Tonga has been dealt a fresh blow after coronavirus cases were detected on the archipelago. The country will go into lockdown on Wednesday after two port workers helping distribute aid tested positive for Covid-19.
Disaster-struck Tonga has been dealt a fresh blow after coronavirus cases were detected on the archipelago.
The urgent announcement by Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni appeared to confirm fears on the Pacific Island that accepting aid following the disaster last month could be a poison chalice, by bringing the pandemic to a nation that had been virus-free. Ships and planes from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Britain and China have been delivering aid to the country.Those nations had promised to drop off their supplies of fresh water and medicine without coming into contact with anybody on the ground in Tonga, which usually requires incoming travellers to spend three weeks in quarantine.
The lockdown is open-ended, the site said, with updates expected from health officials every two days.Tonga and several other small Pacific nations, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, were among the last places on the planet to have avoided any Covid outbreaks, thanks to their remote locations and strict border controls.
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