There are 342 active cases of Covid in Tonga today, says the Minister of Health.
Health Minister Saia Piukala
Hon Piukala said 303 cases had been recovered since the outbreak.
The Minister would not say how many new cases in the community and how many cases in the MIQs.
“This morning there are 645 cases in total since the outbreak,” Hon Piukala said. He said the 645 cases included the first positive case detected in October last year.
He said of the 645 cases, 637 were on Tongatapu, seven on Vava’u and the case from last year.
In the Vava’u cases, six had been recovered and one was still in isolation, the Minister said.
He said there were 26 new cases on Friday last week, 20 on Saturday, 59 on Sunday, 57 on Monday, 100 on Tuesday which included 83 cases at the Hu’atolitoli prison and 17 in the community. On Wednesday there 28 cases included 10 new cases at the Hu’atolitoli prison.
Hon Piukala said Haapai, ‘Eua and the Niuas were still Covid free.
More repatriationflights expected
The Minister said the 174 repatriates from Fiji, Australia and New Zealand at the MIQs had been released and allowed to go home on Tuesday.
He said seven people were still at the Taliai MIQ including five who tested positive and two were negative but because they were family members isolating together they have to remain at the MIQ. Hon Piukala would not confirm whether these seven cases were repatriates or locals.
The next repatriation flights will be from New Zealand and Australia on Tuesday next week, he said.
Another flights on Thursday are expected to bring back the remaining stranded Tongans in Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu.
All shipments from Tongatapu to outer islands will no longer need to be quarantined upon arrival, the government said this afternoon Wednesday 2.
Ha’apai residents receiving their shipments from New Zealand. Photo/ Pita Taufatofua
The decision came after Kaniva News reported Tuesday that ’Eua residents had complained after heavy rain damaged goods sent by their families in New Zealand following the January volcano eruption and tsunami.
The goods had been stored in the open at Nāfanua wharf which was completely wiped out by the tsunami.
The Minister of Internal Affairs Sangstar Saulala said in announcing the Cabinet decision the ‘Eua shipments were being quarantined for 72 hours when the incident happened.
Hon Saulala said the Cabinet agreed to remove the 72- hour quarantine requirement after it received recommendations from the Ministry of Health and the National Emergency Management Office.
“The Cabinet does not want to see any further damages to donations from our kāinga overseas to our people which were affected by the disasters”, Saulala said in Tongan.
The Minister thanked overseas kāinga and said the government appreciated their donations.
As we reported yesterday, many ‘Eua residents were concerned and asked why the government did not set up a temporary shelter to protect their cargos.
The damage to the shipments had been described as “huge”.
The government decision came after a boat with shipments got in trouble and ran aground near Tonga’s Nomuka island in the Ha’apai group last week.
The 14 meter long boat was on its way from Pangai with quarantined shipments.
The cargo was shipped from Nuku’alofa to Pangai, Ha’apai so that they could be quarantined there for 72 hours before sending them to Nomuka.
The boat was overloaded and an attempt to speed up the process of bailing seawater failed, the government said at the time.
Volcanic eruption and tsunami
The disaster killed four peopleand caused US$90.4m (TOP 208M) in damages to Tonga, according to the World Bank, equivalent to 18.5 percent of Tonga’s GDP.
Immediately after the eruption and the fatal tsunami, a relief committee known as Aotearoa Tongan Relief Committee (ATRC) was set up in Auckland to help ship people’s donation to the kingdom.
Reports by the ATRC said it filled more than 70 shipping containers full of drums of food and non-perishable items. More than 50 of them had already been shipped to Tonga.
Hipkins says there are now more than 120,000 active Covid-19 cases across the country.
However, he says the key metric now is those requiring hospitalisation: “New Zealand at this point continues to experience fewer people in hospital than we’ve seen internationally and one of the key drivers of that is the millions of Kiwis who have been vaccinated and who have had booster doses.”
Hipkins says 86 percent of the eligible population aged 5+ has now received at least one dose, with 80 percent fully vaccinated. As of midnight, 2,390,659 had received a booster – about 79 percent of the eligible population.
Some 243,244 children have received a paediatric dose – about 51 percent.
Hipkins says the high rates are making a difference, and urges people who are eligible but have not yet had a dose to take up the opportunity.
He says we have 80.8 percent of ICU or high-dependency unit beds in use, 64.5 percent of ward beds occupied, and 13.9 percent of ventilators in use.
“Covid-19 only makes up a very small fraction of those numbers and so there is still capacity there to respond to increasing case numbers,” he says.
Hipkins also says there has also been an increase in demand for ambulance and healthline services from people who have relatively mild symptoms. He asks people whose symptoms are mild to just stay home and get better.
However, people who find their symptoms are getting worse should ask for help, and in a medical emergency should call 111.
Earlier this morning, data modeller Michael Plank said hospitalisations from Covid-19 were expected to top 800 within a week, if numbers kept rising at the rate they have.
Community case numbers yesterday [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/covid-19/462513/covid-19-update-nearly-20-000-community-cases-373-in-hospital-9-in-icu neared the 20,000 mark.
Director-General of Health Dr Bloomfield also made an apology over delays to people receiving PCR test results in the past week, with a backlog from last Wednesday only beginning to clear in the past couple of days.
Opposition parties criticised Bloomfield, saying he misled the public over testing capacity, and the ACT Party calling for him to be removed.
Police have made 60 arrests today as part of a pre-planned operation to remove anti-covid public health protesters from New Zealand’s Parliament grounds.
Anti-covid public health protesters clash with police today at the Parliament grounds occupation camp in Wellington. Image: RNZ
Police have been descending on Parliament from early this morning on day 23 of the occupation and have also begun towing larger vehicles, including campervans and trucks.
They say they have gained significant ground this morning across the occupation.
Police have asked the public and commuters to avoid the area near Parliament and say they will continue to help those who want to leave the grounds to do so safely.
Hill Street is closed, and many surrounding streets to the protest have been blocked.
Protesters have reacted by throwing cones at police.
Police staff in and around the protest area have sighted protesters in possession of various weapons. These include homemade plywood shields and pitchforks.
One man told RNZ he wanted to move his car because it was all he owned.
There were reports of forklifts on the move, and police were also taking down more tents.
One of the RNZ reporters on the scene said they were being abused by protesters and told to leave.
A police statement said weapons deployed among protesters included the use of fire extinguishers, a cord set up as a trip wire, paint-filled projectiles, homemade plywood shields and pitchforks.
At least three police staff have been injured in the clashes.
Protesters have repeatedly been reminded that Parliament grounds are closed, and that remaining there means they are trespassing.
The Kīngitanga is calling for a peaceful resolution to the occupation at Parliament and other sites across the country.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the Kīngitanga had not given its support to any occupation and claims to the contrary were untrue.
They said Kiingi Tuheitia had been a strong advocate for the covid public health response, while acknowledging the impact on people and their families.
The Kīngitanga said its priority was to get through omicron and start preparing for a life after covid.
The Kīngitanga said it was calling for a peaceful resolution to the occupation at Parliament and other protest sites across the country.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
’Eua residents complained this morning after heavy rain damaged goods sent by their families in New Zealand following the January volcano eruption and tsunami.
This photo purported to show cargos stored in the open on the wharf. (Inset : a screenshot taken from a video clip of ‘Eua residents attempting to remove their cargos while it was raining). Photo/Supplied
Many accused authorities of storing their goods in the open and not setting up a temporary shelter after the tsunami wiped out Nāfanua wharf.
The government appeared to have been dragged into the people’s disappointment after what is thought to be its decision to quarantine the cargo before releasing it to the owners.
The details of the damage were unclear, but some Tongans in New Zealand sent boxes of dairy milk and bags of groceries. They appear to have become wet after the incident, making them inedible if not used immediately.
It appeared some drums and parcels were opened at the border in Nuku’alofa for screening and were not re-sealed tightly so the rain got in and damaged their contents this morning.
Some complainants asked why the government did not unload the cargo and store it in the nearby packing house.
Photos and video clips taken at the scene this morning provided to Kaniva News showed what appeared to be people standing in the rain near an open platform by the sea.
An eyewitness who goes by the Facebook name Niah Takai said the people were negotiating what happened to their cargo after they became aware of the situation when the rain was falling.
“Lahi e uta oku maumau,” Takai told Kaniva News in Tongan. Her remark is translated into English as “A huge number of cargos are damaged,”
The government has been contacted for comment.
We have asked the Minister of Disaster and his CEO to comment on the residents’ complaints.
We also asked why there was not any makeshift shelter installed at the bare wharf to protect the cargo.
The complaints came after we recently reported that shipments from New Zealand following the disaster had been allegedly stolen at the Kuini Sālote Wharf in Tongatapu.
The government said at the time it had received no complaints about the allegations, but said it welcomed any complaints from the public.
Volcanic eruption and tsunami
The disaster killed four peopleand caused US$90.4m (TOP 208M) in damages to Tonga, according to the World Bank, equivalent to 18.5 percent of Tonga’s GDP.
Immediately after the eruption and the fatal tsunami, a relief committee known as Aotearoa Tongan Relief Committee (ATRC) was set up in Auckland to help ship people’s donation to the kingdom.
Reports by the ATRC said it filled more than 70 shipping containers full of drums of food and non-perishable items. More than 50 of them had already been shipped to Tonga.
There are 19,566 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today, the Ministry of Health has reported.
It said there were also 373 cases in hospital and nine in ICU.
The new community cases today were in Northland (329), Auckland (12,530), Waikato (1812), Bay of Plenty (1185), Lakes (376), Hawke’s Bay (168), MidCentral (260), Whanganui (45), Taranaki (165), Tairāwhiti (88), Wairarapa (42), Capital and Coast (691), Hutt Valley (355), Nelson Marlborough (196), Canterbury (740), South Canterbury (37), Southern (529), West Coast (17) and one case is unknown.
“I know that such a high daily case number can be concerning for people to hear, and many of us will now have whānau members who now have Covid-19, but it’s important to remember that Covid-19 now is a very different foe to what it was at the beginning of the pandemic.”
He said the high vaccination rate meant for most people it would be a more mild illness and could be managed safely at home.
He said PCR testing had served NZ incredibly well, but with thousands of cases each day NZ did reach the point last week where rapid antigen testing became both useful and appropriate.
He said samples were typically pooled earlier on in the outbreak, but a positive test in a batch means each will need to be retested. Higher test positivity rates now however meant it becomes less feasible.
He said prior to 7 February, none of the labs had ever exceeded 5 percent test positivity, but the swift increase in positive cases had affected that. Labs had also had other difficulties, including vacancies in roles and sickness because some lab workers had contracted the virus.
On vaccinations, the ministry said 388 first doses were given yesterday; 733 second doses; 74 third primary doses; 23,465 booster doses; 1,452 paediatric first doses and 231 paediatric second doses.https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/7324871/embed?auto=1A Flourish data visualization
Yesterday saw 14,633 community cases reported, with 344 people hospitalised across Northland (5), North Shore (53), Middlemore (128), Auckland (100), Tauranga (11), Taranaki (1), Waikato (28), Canterbury (4) Southern (4), Hutt Valley (6) Capital and Coast (3) and Tairawhiti (1).
Five people with Covid-19 were in ICU yesterday.https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/7471487/embed?auto=1A Flourish data visualization
The 1pm media briefings in the Beehive theatrette have been reinstated as New Zealanders prepare for the full impact of the Omicron outbreak.
From today, Bloomfield will front the briefings on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins will appear on Wednesdays.
As New Zealand marks two years of living with Covid-19, there are 14,633 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today, the Ministry of Health reports.
Photo: AFP
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there are also 344 cases in hospital and five in ICU.
The cases in hospital are in Northland (5), North Shore (53), Middlemore (128), Auckland (100), Tauranga (11), Taranaki (1), Waikato (28), Canterbury (4) Southern (4), Hutt Valley (6)Capital and Coast (3) and Tairawhiti (1).
The new community cases today are in Northland (208), Auckland (9,305), Waikato (1,530), Bay of Plenty (762), Lakes (265), Hawke’s Bay (138), MidCentral (175), Whanganui (30), Taranaki (67), Tairāwhiti (60), Wairarapa (52), Capital and Coast (604), Hutt Valley (281), Nelson Marlborough (178), Canterbury (573), South Canterbury (24), Southern (372), West Coast (3); Unknown (6).
There are also 23 new cases at the border.
Two years ago today, the first case of the coronavirus was confirmed in New Zealand, in a recent returnee.
Meanwhile, the shift from MIQ to home isolation for vaccinated New Zealanders travelling from Australia began today.
Cabinet will discuss and make decisions about the https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/462411/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-on-government-s-response-to-ukraine-covid-19 future of border restrictions later today], Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Morning Report.
(L-R) Lesieli Filiai, Sēmisi Filiai and Director of Pacific Immigration Consultancy Koli Vānisi. Photo/Supplied
A couple who both have underlying health conditions including what is thought to be kidney renal cancer had been granted permanent residency in New Zealand.
Sēmisi Filiai, 57 and his wife Lesieli Filiai, 54, had been made residents last month.
Sēmisi came to New Zealand under a one year work visa in January 2012.
His wife Lesieli arrived later in June 2016. They overstayed their visa in 2019.
The couple sought the help of some immigration consultants to apply their residence visas but to no avail.
They finally enlisted the help of immigration consultant Koli Vānisi who successfully convinced the Immigration New Zealand that the Filiais should stay here permanently.
“The couple are so ecstatic knowing they could now continue to stay here,” Vānisi told Kaniva News.
He said there was nothing really concrete in the couple’s circumstances for him to make a stand against the immigration’s previous decision against them.
He said he received a letter from a specialist doctor which confirmed that Sēmisi needs to be here in New Zealand legally so that one of his kidneys could be treated.
Vānisi was no stranger to facing Immigration New Zealand against some of the hardest and rarest cases it had declined.
As we reported last year, Vānisi successfully appealed a declined residence visa application in which the Immigration New Zealand ordered 60-year-old Hailoa Tupoumālohi and her husband Afu’alo to leave the country. Hailoa was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure, and she was placed on haemodialysis treatment three times a week.
Vanisi represented Hailoa and her husband in their fight against Immigration New Zealand and the couple were finally granted residency.
Vānisi could be contacted on mobile phone 0212941443 or landline telephone 09 5250361 or email him at: koli@picsinfo.nz
There has been a record 14,941 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today, with 305 people now in hospital.
Photo: 123rf.com
In today’s statement, the Ministry of Health said the death being reported today was a person who tested positive for Covid-19 and passed away in a Northland hospital yesterday from an unrelated medical condition.
Of the 305 people now in hospital with the coronavirus, five are in intensive care. Most are in Auckland hospitals, although 34 people with Covid-19 are in Waikato Hospital.
The Ministry said 9046 of the cases reported today were in Auckland.
This is the moment a Ukrainian driver mockingly asks invaders if they need a ‘tow back to Russia’ after spotting their tank had broken down on a road en route to Kyiv.
The clip, shared widely across social media, appears to show an encounter between a group of Ukrainians and Russians who are said to be stranded at the side of a road outside of the Ukrainian capital.
The footage begins with the driver slowing down to a stop as he approaches the Russian tank, which has ‘broken down’ on the side of the road and waiting for diesel.
The Ukrainian motorist rolls down his window before jokingly offering to tow the troops back to Russia, prompting roars of laughter from all involved.
Hundreds of people, including Ukrainian former journalist Victor Kovalenko, took to Twitter to share a translation of the humorous exchange.
Fighting has raged on in and around major Ukrainian cities for a third consecutive day, as Kyiv’s defence ministry has so far put Russia’s losses at around 2,800 troops, 80 tanks, 516 armoured vehicles, and 10 airplanes and seven helicopters.
Intelligence experts have predicted Vladimir Putin’s £15bn-a-day war with Ukraine is no longer going to plan due to Kremlin ‘overconfidence’, poor tactical planning, and ‘shock’ at the fierce resistance put up by brave Ukrainians fighting for national survival.
The viral clip appears to show an encounter between a Ukrainian motorist and Russian soldiers who are said to be stranded at the side of a road after their tank ‘broke down’ outside the capital
The Ukrainian motorist rolls down his window before jokingly offering to tow the troops back to Russia, prompting roars of laughter from all involved
In the viral footage, the Russian troops are standing next to a tank which appears to have stopped on the side of the road.
As the driver approaches, he rolls down his window to check if they have broken down as the Russian troops reply and say they are ‘waiting for diesel’.
The quick-thinking motorist then mockingly asks: ‘Do you need a tow back to Russia?’, before there’s a loud outburst of laughter from the soldiers.
The Ukranian continues and asks: ‘Where are you headed? Do you know?’, which the Russians apparently reply and say they do not.
‘You’re heading to Kyiv. No one knows where they are or where they’re going,’ the driver says, before adding: ‘So far our side is doing better, your guys surrender well.’
Russian troops are now attempting to encircle Kyiv and are meeting stiff resistance. Top Russian targets likely include the Presidential Palace at the heart of the city, and one of the remaining airports after Antonov Airport’s runways were intentionally destroyed
The video marks the latest in a series of humiliating encounters for the Russian army as Ukraine continues its heroic stand against the invading force.
The Kremlin is understood to have been surprised at the strength of Ukraine’s resistance, with Putin reportedly calling an urgent meeting with his inner circle to complain that the invasion was no longer going to plan.
The Russian army has now been ordered to broaden its advance ‘from all directions’, after senior US defence officials claimed Russia is facing more resistance than Moscow anticipated in its invasion of Ukraine, including in its advance on Kyiv, and appears to have lost some of its momentum.
Estonia’s former defence chief Riho Terras has now claimed that Putin’s war is not going to plan because Russia is fast running out of money and weapons, and will have to enter negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky’s government if Kyiv holds off the Russians for 10 days
Citing Ukrainian intelligence sources, Terras claimed that the war is costing Russia around £15billion-per-day, and that they have rockets for three to four days at most, which they are using sparingly.
He claimed that Putin’s plan has relied on panicking the country, firing missiles at residential buildings ‘at random’ to ‘intimidate’ the Ukrainians, trigger mass army desertions, national surrender, and Zelensky’s flight from the country.
Terras also alleged that Russian special operations have been near Kyiv since February 18, and had planned to swiftly seize the capital and install a puppet regime.
‘The Russians are in shock of the fierce resistance they have encountered. The Ukrainians must avoid panic! … Ukraine must stay strong and we must provide assistance!’, he wrote on Twitter.
