Fiji

Two of the cases are people who arrived from New Delhi on the 21st of December, and the other is someone who arrived from England on the same day.

The health ministry said they are all at a special quarantine facility at Lautoka Hospital.

Fiji has had 49 cases of the coronavirus since March, most of them in quarantine.

It's 255 days since the last case was detected in the community.

Relief supplies are getting out to affected areas, but there is growing concern about the risk of disease.

4,035 people are in 84 evacuation centres, most of them in the northern island of Vanua Levu, which bore the brunt of the category five storm.

Health officials are now concerned about the possible spread of diseases like leptospirosis and dengue fever - particularly with more heavy rain forecast this weekend.

The government said work crews and relief supplies have made it to all the affected areas, but items like water tanks and shelter are needed.

The restrictions came ahead of cyclone Yasa which hit the country last Thursday.

The category five storm left four people dead with the northern island of Vanua Levu bearing the full brunt of Yasa.

However, restrictive travel would remain for the Lau, Kadavu and Lomaiviti groups.

The maritime authority said any travels to these Islands must be approved by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO).

In a public advisory, MSAF chief executive Simon Gravenall said all other maritime transport involving passengers and cargoes could resume.

The Category 5 Tropical Cyclone, which has now been downgraded to a tropical low, has made its way through the Fijian islands and is tracking away through open seas in the South West Pacific.

A team from Headquarters Joint Forces, responsible for coordinating the NZDF response, deployed an NZDF C-130 Hercules from Base Auckland to conduct an initial survey flight on Saturday 19 December. 

According to the NZ defence Force, for operational reasons, the surveillance flights were conducted by an NZDF C-130 Hercules rather than the P3 Orion.

The then-category five storm hit Vanua Levu and its surrounding islands overnight, flattening homes, bringing down power lines and stripping the land of its vegetation.

The National Disaster Management Office Director, Vasiti Soko, said more than 93,000 Fijians had been impacted by the storm as it swept across Bua Province and the rest of Vanua Levu before tracking through the central Lau islands.

Tonga has now issued a cyclone warning as forecasts show it tracking close to the islands over the weekend.

Many houses in Fiji's Vanua Levu have been destroyed, some families sheltered under beds and tables in their houses and others in cane plantations, as Cyclone Yasa wreaked havoc in many parts of the Northern Division, Fiji Village reports.

Buildings and crops were destroyed on Vanua Levu, Fiji's second largest island, and there's been widespread flooding and landslides.

Cyclone Yasa is due to make landfall on Fiji's two main islands this evening, with winds gusting as high as 350 kilometres per hour.

A nationwide curfew is now in effect and will last through the night.

The National Disaster Management Office said at least 600,000 people lie in the path of the storm, whose strength could rival the devastation wrought by Cyclone Winston in 2016.

The NDMO director, Vasiti Soko, said the time for people to evacuate was fast running out.

Digicel Regional CEO – Pacific, Ms. Shally Jannif said; “Two links out of three between our Suva Data Center and the Fintel landing station maybe affected by Category 5 Cyclone Yasa. This may disrupte all data services in Tonga as this is where our core systems for these services are located.”

Data network in Tonga for 2G / 3G and LTE services maybe impacted. 

Local and International calls & SMS will not be affected. ICT services for Dedicated Internet through WIMAX, P2P or P2MP will also not be affected.

Evacuation centres have opened with the category five storm expected to make landfall tonight.

At least 600,000 people lie in the path the cyclone which packs winds gusting up to 345km/h.

The Director of the National Disaster Office, Vasiti Soko, said the people should either move into evacuation centres or secure their homes and clear loose items in their surroundings.

Soko warns the winds would be destructive

The cyclone on Wednesday was upgraded to a category five, the highest possible, with winds at its centre gusting as high as 315km/h.

It is still intensifying, forecasters said, and by the time it reached Fiji's main islands late on Thursday or early on Friday, it would likely be much stronger.

Its projected path would take it right over the two main islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and disaster authorities were planning for as many as 600,000 people - 66 percent of the population - to be affected.