The Tonga Islands will enter confinement on Wednesday February 2 due to the detection of two cases of Covid-19, a new blow for this Pacific kingdom which is struggling to recover from the devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami of the mid-January, officials said.
The island nation was so far one of the few places on the planet to have been spared the virus, but Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said the two men who tested positive this week in Nuku’alofa had worked in the port of the capital, where humanitarian aid has been pouring in from all over the world since January 15. The volcanic eruption, one of the largest in decades, blanketed Tonga in toxic ash, killing three people.
Only one case of Covid-19 in October 2021
The archipelago closed its borders at the beginning of 2020, due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus. Since then, this country of 100,000 inhabitants had recorded only one case of Covid-19, that of a man who arrived from New Zealand in October 2021 and who has since fully recovered.
After the volcanic eruption and tsunami, ships from the Australian, New Zealand, United States, French and British navies delivered aid. All deliveries were made in accordance with strict protocols of “no contact” to keep the virus at bay.
Mr Sovaleni said the two men affected were asymptomatic and doubly vaccinated, like about 85% of the population of Tonga.
The Australian ship Adelaide docked in Nuku’alofa last week to unload aid, when around 20 members of her crew were infected with the virus.