CORONAVIRUS WEEK 6 - COVID19 PACIFIC UPDATE

The CoconetTV ongoing Pacific Islands updates for our community in Aotearoa and the Pacific region.

To catch up on updates from Week 1 click here , Week 2 click here , Week 3 click here, Week 4 click here & Week 5 click here 

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End of week round up - 

NEW ZEALAND - The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday that NZ Is on lockdown Alert Level 4 until 11.59pm on Mon 27th April.  The country will then move into a strict Alert level 3 for a further two weeks.  

• People instructed to stay home in their bubble other than for essential personal movement – including to go to work, school if they have to or for local recreation.
• Physical distancing of two metres outside home (including on public transport), or one metre in controlled environments like schools and workplaces.
• Bubbles must stay within their immediate household bubble, but can expand this to reconnect with close family/whānau, or bring in caregivers, or support isolated people. This extended bubble should remain exclusive.
• Schools (years 1 to 10) and Early Childhood Education centres can safely open, but will have limited capacity. Children should learn at home if possible.
• People must work from home unless that is not possible.
• Businesses can open premises, but cannot physically interact with customers.
• Low risk local recreation activities are allowed.
• Public venues are closed, eg libraries, museums, cinemas, food courts, gyms, pools, playgrounds, markets.
• Gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed but only for wedding services, funerals and tangihanga. Physical distancing and public health measures must be maintained.
• Healthcare services use virtual, non-contact consultations where possible.
• Inter-regional travel is highly limited, eg for essential workers, with limited exemptions for others.
• People at high risk of severe illness (older people and those with existing medical conditions) are encouraged to stay at home where possible, and take additional precautions when leaving home. They may choose to work. 

KFC and other fast food outlets like McDonalds, Burger King etc that have Drive Thru facilities are also expected to be allowed to open.

- ANZAC Day is tomorrow – unfortunately, gatherings and travel are not allowed as we are still under Alert Level 4.  There will be no Ministry of Health update over the weekend of 25-26 April, the next update will be Monday 27 April.

- For the first time since 1915 there will not be any official public gatherings in New Zealand to mark Anzac Day. NZers are being encouraged to take part in the commemoration by standing at doorways, driveways, letterboxes at 6am on Saturday.

 - A weekly social media, radio and TV broadcast in nine Pacific languages has begun this week.  Videos will be released each week on Wednesday on social media, followed by radio bulletins on Thursday and then a special TV3 (Three) broadcast on Friday at 4pm (and replayed every Monday at 11pm).  You will be able to view the videos on the Ministry for Pacific People's Facebook page, YouTube channel and the government’s COVID-19 website.

- Finance Minister Grant Robertson says around 400,000 more New Zealanders will return to work next week. He says the third wave of the government's work will look at long-term issues and challenges such as productivity, sustainability and inequality.

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PACIFIC ISLANDS 

** Total of 854 cases confirmed in the Pacific & 19 deaths - 14 in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (2 deaths), 18 in Fiji, 57 in French Polynesia, 138 in Guam (5 deaths), 596 in Hawai'i (12 deaths), 18 in New Caledonia, 8 in Papua New Guinea & 5 in Rapa Nui **  

16 nations & territories in the Pacific remain Coronavirus FREE 

COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANAS - To date, the CNMI has 14 positive cases, one active case, two deaths, and 11 recovered cases.  

- In an attempt to organize mass testing, the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. are now offering individuals who wish to get tested for COVID-19 a chance to schedule a testing appointment.  Source:  Saipan Tribune 

FIJI - Fijian Government have stated:  10 of our 18 patients have made full recoveries from the virus. So now, there are eight active cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Fiji –– meaning that, for the first time, more Fijians have recovered than are currently still living with the virus.

FRENCH POLYNESIA -  No changes since Wednesday - 57 confirmed cases.

GUAM -  After days of back-to-back news of zero people testing positive for COVID-19, Guam has added two more person to the list of individuals who have tested positive for the virus last April 22, bringing its overall total to 138 positive cases.

To date, Guam has a total of 138 positive cases, with 119 recoveries, and five deaths.  Source:  Saipan Tribune 

- The governor of Guam has asked the United States federal government to enforce screening measures to slow the flow of islanders from the freely associated states coming to Guam during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Full story here 

HAWAI'I - Hawaii is reporting four new COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing the statewide total to 596.  Two of the new cases are on Maui, while Oahu and the Big Island both reported one each.  No new fatalities were reported Thursday. The state’s death toll stands at 12.  Of the total number of cases, 455 people have been released from isolation while at least 64 have been hospitalized.  Source:  Hawaii News now

- With promising signs, Kauai could be the first to slowly ease restrictions.  Full story here 

NEW CALEDONIA - Today, 117 tests of Covid-19 were carried out. All were negative. In all, since March 18, 4,129 of these tests have been completed. Of the eighteen cases confirmed on the Caillou, seventeen have left the hospital.  Source:  Inc.nc 

- New Caledonia's Customary Senate has warned of possible trouble over the government's and the French state's management of the Covid-19 crisis.  Full story here 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Papua New Guinea has reported its eighth confirmed case of Covid-19, in Eastern Highlands province.  The 45 yo woman presented to a health clinic in the Eastern Highlands with shortness of breath and a fever.  Full story here 

SAMOA - Close to 200 New Zealand citizens flew out of Samoa for home on Friday in a Air New Zealand repatriation flight, some of them missionaries who were forced to cut short their stay by the COVID-19 global pandemic.  Full story here  

(Cover image used in this update via Samoa Observer) 

TONGA - Women in Tonga are resilient community supports but will be facing extra burdens in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Harold and the #COVID19 shutdown, writes ‘Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki.  Full story here 

- A new hub for treating suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Tonga is close to completion.  Full story here