February

56 earthquakes in Tonga in February

According to the latest Geological Service Bulletin, these are felt earthquakes and earthquakes that were not felt but have magnitudes which are greater than or equal to four.

There were 30 shallow-focus earthquakes with an average magnitude of 4.8.

Three were intermediate focus earthquakes with 4.6 average magnitude and 16 were deep-focus earthquakes with 4.5 average magnitude.

Tonga Geological Service said 7 were felt earthquakes but their magnitudes and depths were unknown.

Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Retreat set for February 2021

The focus of the Special Leaders Retreat will be the COVID-19 pandemic and the appointment of the next Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Australia to begin mass vaccinations in February

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said regulators were now expected to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by the end of January.

He announced the plans on Thursday as the cities of Sydney and Melbourne battled to control new clusters.

By March, four million Australians could be vaccinated, he said.

"We are now in a position where believe we will be able to commence vaccinations in mid-to-late February," Mr Morrison said.

Following regulatory approval, the first of the country's order of 10 million Pfizer vaccine doses should be issued in a matter of weeks.

February breaks global temperature records by 'shocking' amount

The unprecedented leap led scientists, usually wary of highlighting a single month’s temperature, to label the new record a “shocker” and warn of a “climate emergency”.