New Zealand

The first priority group included border and managed isolation quarantine workers and their household contacts.

The second priority group are front-line health workers and people living in high-risk settings such as older people in South Auckland, people in residential care and older people particularly Māori and Pacific.

Aupito William Sio told RNZ Pacific that providers have trusted relationships with the communities they serve, and they will be able to identify and vaccinate the Pasifika elderly in their regions.

Viliami Latu, who police believe murdered his estranged partner and mother of his children Toakase Finau, also breached bail several weeks before the killing at his brother’s house, Stuff understands.

Toakase’s mother ‘Alilia Teu Kata told Kaniva News, about the couple’s relationship saying the man’s name was Viliami.

Kata said the couple left behind four children, their daughter and three sons.

She said Toakase, from Māngere in South Auckland, was with her before she left to go to Pukekohe last week.

With many living in New Zealand and wanting to travel, Jacinda Ardern emphasised the vaccine is key to a free travel passport.

“A lot of conversations with our Pacific neighbours, there’s a desire to make sure that we’re protecting our most vulnerable,” she says.

“And so any country I think that is looking to open up and have movement again, is aware that unless we have a vaccination programme that reaches our most vulnerable they are at risk. 

The Chief Executive of Tonga's Government Communications, Paula Ma'u, told local media the next passenger repatriation flight from New Zealand would be determined later.

This is the second time a passenger flight to Tonga had been deferred.

RNZ Pacific reports the repatriation flight was originally planned for 3 March, but was postponed to 10 March following Auckland's alert level three lockdown on the 28 February due to Covid-19 community cases.

The bank admitted breaches of the Financial Markets Conduct Act after the Financial Markets Authority filed proceedings in June last year.

The Authority said ANZ issued duplicate policies to some customers which provided no additional benefits.

It also failed to cancel policies for ineligible customers, while continuing to charge them.

The penalty was in line with the Authority's recommendation to the court.

Cabinet met this afternoon to decide whether the risk of Covid-19 spreading has diminished enough for Auckland to move to alert level 1.

Eight cases that had recently emerged had all been linked and close contacts of the mother of a family at the centre of the outbreak had all produced negative results, she said.

Cabinet had decided to make face coverings mandatory in all public transport across NZ at levels one and two.

The State of the Nation report shows Pasifika unemployment at 8.1 percent, up from 7.4 percent the previous year and nearly twice that of Pakeha at 4.3 percent.

Salvation Army lawyer and policy analyst Ronji Tanielu said the job losses that came with Covid-19 restrictions impacted a lot of Pasifika people.

"If you think about where Pasifika people are located in our industries, we're generally making up hospitality, manufacturing, even some tourism and those were some of the areas that were directly affected by the job losses because of Covid."

The repatriation flights are from Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.

MEIDECC Chief Executive Officer, Paula Ma’u said the repatriates will be quarantined at Tanoa International Hotel and Makeke Camp in Vaini.

Passengers on the flight from Fiji include Tongan nationals who were in India, Friendly Island Shipping Agency crew members, Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and students who studied abroad.

All the passengers have completed quarantine requirements in Fiji and are waiting return to Tonga.

The event begun in 2007 to give the Pacific community in Hamilton; an annual Pacific festival; a Pacific early learning space; and a Pacific health service.

K'aute Pasifika is a charitable trust based in Hamilton, providing health, education and social services to Pasifika communities and other ethnicities.

The trust is also the organisers of the Nesian Festival and this year have announced that it will take place on Saturday 27 March 2021 and for the first time, it will be held at the University of Waikato sportsground.

Auckland moved to Alert Level 3 and the rest of the country to Alert Level 2 after three community cases of Covid-19 were discovered.

Genomic sequencing revealed the cases were the UK variant of the virus and authorities were conducting contact tracing to try and determine the origin and extent of the latest outbreak.

Auckland Paediatrician, Teuila Percival, urged Pasifika communities to apply all the lessons learned from past outbreaks.