The Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku has ordered a nationwide lockdown starting tomorrow Wednesday 2 at 6pm in response to the Kingdom’s latest reports of Covid-19 cases.
The Minister of Health has confirmed during an urgent press conference this evening in Nuku’alofa that two cases of Covid patients tested positive and had been isolated at Taliai MIQ.
The patients’ families had been home isolated and provided medical assistance.
The two cases were people who had been working at the Queen Sālote Wharf.
The two asymptomatic patients were fully vaccinated with their respective two doses of vaccines, the Minister said.
Hon Piukala said staff working at the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 surveillance to monitor front liners tested the patients and found they had been infected.
He said it is believed they were infected last week, but did not give an exact date.
The Minister said the viruses have yet to be identified whether they were Omicron or not.
Tonga did not have sequencing technology available to identify whether the viruses were Omicron or Delta.
The Minister said that type of test can only be done in New Zealand or Australia.
The lockdown had been announced for the whole of Tonga since some closed contacts were believed to have been travelling to outer islands.
All domestic flights had been cancelled.
The press conference was livestreamed and broadcast this evening on FM 87.5 online.
Tonga reported its first positive Covid case last year after an Air New Zealand flight arrived from Christchurch, New Zealand. The kingdom went into lockdown but was shortly lifted after the patient recovered at the MIQ.
