Tokelau

A spokesperson for the government has confirmed to RNZ Pacific the small nation of three atolls announced the first-ever case on Sunday.

Up until now Tokelau, which is a dependency of New Zealand, was the last remaining country along with Turkmenistan to not have experienced community cases.

RNZ Pacific reports the case is located on Nukunonu, the largest atoll in Tokelau.

Tokelau has now been plunged into lockdown.

The index case doesn't know how they contracted the virus.

Work is underway to establish how the virus entered the community.

In a statement, National Public Service general manager Tino Vitale said the general fono chairperson, deputy chairperson and the 28 members of the 12th Government of Tokelau have been sworn in.

He said the Ulu, on behalf of the Taupulega, or Council of Elders, tabled the council's decision on ministerial portfolios amongst council members for general fono endorsement.

The Ulu-o-Tokelau is an annual rotational role that is served by the Faipule or leader of each atoll.

The tunoa was imposed on the family of four by the Taupulega, or council, on Nukunonu, one of the three atolls that make up Tokelau.

The New Zealand dependency with a population of about 1500 has had no cases of Covid-19 since the global pandemic began in early 2020, according to the World Health Organisation.

However, there are strict protocols in place to prevent the spread of the virus.

The programme delivers maritime safety initiatives to seven Pacific Island countries – Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga and Tuvalu.

The funding, from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2026, marks the fourth phase of the programme.

The PMSP is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade programme, funded through the International Development Cooperation programme and delivered by Maritime NZ.

One-way travel with low-risk Pacific countries resumes on November 8 from the three islands and Tokelau, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced last week.

Travellers from those nations will be able to bypass spending 14 days at a managed isolation and quarantine facility.

All travellers, New Zealand citizens, and NZ resident or visa critical purpose visa holders, would need to have stayed 14 days in their countries before departure and aren’t required to provide a pre-departure test.

They must be fully vaccinated, unless they are New Zealand citizens.

The change will see travellers from those countries and Tokelau who have the right to reside permanently in New Zealand and people covered by border exceptions, from 8 November.

“Travellers must be fully vaccinated, unless they are New Zealand citizens. RSE workers are currently required to have at least one dose, and will be required to be fully vaccinated from 1 January 2022,” said Covid-19 response Minister Chris Hipkins today.

The HMNZS Wellington delivered the vaccine consignment to the Fakaofo, Nukunonu and Atafu atolls of Tokelau.

The ship and its 76 crew used a rigid hulled inflatable boat and a Seasprite helicopter to carry out contactless delivery of the vaccines.

HMNZS Wellington Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Pip Davies said the weather provided some challenges to the delivery.

The New Zealand territory in the central Pacific has set up isolation and treatment facilities on each of its three atolls.

For weeks now, Tokelau has already imposed restrictions on who can travel there. Only returning residents are allowed to travel, and they have to undergo a medical examination before they board the boat from Samoa, which has also closed its borders to all arrivals.

Still, the head of the Tokelau public service, Aukusitino Vitale, said the general fono has ordered the territory to prepare.

The non-self-governing New Zealand territory, which has a local population of only 1500, had one self-funded athlete at the 2015 Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea but a beefed-up team of 56 made the trip to Apia this year and competed in seven different sports: netball, swimming, rugby league nines, touch rugby, judo, Va'a and lawn bowls, where they won a bronze medal in the men's pairs.

Whale sharks, which can grow to around 10 metres in length, are slow-moving filter-feeders and pose no threat to humans, but Gulliver sparked alarm in Nukunonu atoll among locals who assumed he was a man-eating shark.

In May this year, a team of Australian researchers arrived in Nukunonu, after being summoned by a local teacher who suspected the animal was a whale shark and hoped to put fears to rest, said Brad Norman, one of the researchers.

By that point, it had been around six months since people in Nukunonu had been allowed to go into the lagoon.