Vaiola hospital. Photo/Kaniva Tonga

The Ministry of Health has announced this evening Sunday 20  its clinics for cardiovascular, high blood pressures, eyes, children and surgery are closed.

The Ministry advised the public to listen to radios for further updates on the closures.

It said all consultations must be done over the phone, number 0800015 or 0800016.

It said this was part of an attempt by the Ministry to protect and reduce the spread of Covid.

On Friday, Tonga recorded 24 new covid cases of Covid bringing the number of active cases to 196.

The prime minister confirmed that of the 25 positive cases recorded in MIQ on Thursday a total of 23 have recovered, while two are still active cases.

30 cases reported at the Hu’atolitoli Prison are being monitored closely.

In its latest updates, the Ministry of Health was able to conduct 4, 720 tests, with 11, 705 Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) tests.

“The vaccination rate in the kingdom has increased to 99 percent for the first dose, 90 percent second dose, 20 percent for the Booster shot, with only 1,093 people still needing their first dose”, reported RNZ international.