Covid

Our fortnightly update on COVID-19 in the Pacific Fiji’s government has claimed that 96.9 per cent of the country’s target population has now received one vaccination dose, Hugh McClure writes. French Polynesian authorities are now no longer publicly announcing COVID-19 case numbers, as the deadly Delta strain outbreak continues to worsen across all of the…

Our fortnightly update on COVID-19 in the Pacific French Polynesia is staring down the barrel of its worst COVID-19 outbreak thus far, whilst testing in Papua New Guinea’s regional areas remains low, Hugh McClure writes. French Polynesia is once again the Pacific Island region’s COVID-19 epicentre. Cumulative COVID-19 case numbers recorded in French Polynesia have…

The Fijian Government has refused to impose a lockdown despite exploding case numbers, whilst Palau has announced that it has achieved the vaccination rate necessary for herd immunity, Hugh McClure writes. With 37,582 cases of COVID-19 and 317 deaths, Fiji has overtaken Australia to become the Pacific Island Forum member country with the highest number…

Papua New Guinea and Fiji are facing large budget deficits in the wake of COVID-19, while Australia is set to surpass one million vaccines delivered to the Pacific, Hugh McClure writes. There are now more than 17,000 active COVID-19 cases in isolation in Fiji, after the country recorded its worst day of the pandemic to-date, with…

Fiji is introducing a ‘no jab, no job’ policy for public servants, whilst Japan has committed to vaccine assistance for the region, Hugh McClure writes. Fiji’s situation continues to concern the region. The rolling seven-day average of cases there has reached 696, a marked increase from 269 a fortnight ago, and higher on a per…