Coronavirus

The French High Commissioner Dominique Sorain made the announcement at a briefing with the French Polynesian president Edouard Fritch.

The curfew, which was first declared on 27 March, applies between 8pm and 5am.

Mr Sorain said the restrictions were needed because of the steady but slow progression of the virus which to date has infected 51 people in French Polynesia.

He said an Air Tahiti Nui airliner chartered by the French government was due to return from Paris at the weekend, bringing in 25 tonnes of medical supplies.

The bloc's ambassador to the Pacific, Sujiro Seam, said 15 Pacific states and four territories would be eligible for the support.

The money will be redirected from existing EU-funded programmes in the Pacific.

Mr Seam said the money would help strengthen countries' preparations, the capacity of their health systems and mitigate the pandemic's socioeconomic impact.

A detailed support programme for the Pacific will be announced "in the coming days".

Jacinda Ardern said the new arrivals will need to go into either quarantine or "managed isolation" at an approved facility for a minimum of 14 days.

"Our borders are our biggest risk," she said.

She said even one person slipping through the cracks and bringing the virus in could see an explosion of cases.

Ardern said everyone arriving will go into a managed facility that is provided by the government."

She said the tighter controls could not have been done in the beginning but "we can and are now".

According to Mr Dorsey, the donation represented approximately 28% of his wealth.

He made the announcement on Twitter, writing that the "needs are increasingly urgent".

Mr Dorsey did not lay out exactly where the funds would be sent to help in the battle against Covid-19.

In the US there is a shortage of ventilators and personal protective equipment, and business and individuals are also struggling economically.

Mr Dorsey will use shares he owns in Square to fund the donations which will be distributed through the Start Small Foundation.

“There are millions of people around the world stranded by COVID-19 and we are continuing to do our part to help them get home,” Mr Peters said. “Accordingly, Cabinet agreed yesterday that New Zealand would seek reciprocal transit arrangements with a number of countries to enable our citizens to transit each other’s airports.

“One barrier to New Zealanders getting home at present is the transit restrictions imposed by a number of countries. We continue to seek assistance from these countries to enable New Zealanders to transit through their airports in order to come home.

NZ$10 million is also available for requests from the Pacific Island countries preparing their health systems to deal with COVID-19. We have already received and are urgently responding to a number of these requests.

As part of New Zealand’s COVID-19 support, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has provided NZ$4 million to the Government of Tonga in general budget support. This contribution is intended to respond to the wide-ranging health, economic, and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although only a handful of New Zealand's Pacific neighbours were able to do such testing there were plans to change that.

Anyone who's had the Covid-19 test in New Zealand had their results back within a day or two.

For Pacific neighbours, including the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga, that wait for results can take a week or more.

Covid-19 testing requires laboratory facilities which only exist in five Pacific locations, including Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

As an immediate priority, Forum Foreign Ministers met virtually yesterday to establish a Pacific Humanitarian Pathway on COVID-19, following two weeks of consultation with senior officials, regional agencies and development agencies through the Forum.

Four people have died from coronavirus in Guam.

Overnight, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero says out of 35 samples, 8 individuals tested positive.

Twenty-seven people have recovered from Covid-19

The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund has been set up to facilitate an unprecedented global response by supporting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. As part of the agreement, an initial portion of the money from the Fund – which currently stands at more than $127 million – will flow to UNICEF for its work with vulnerable children and communities all over the world.