Coronavirus

The spokesperson said people travelling to Solomon Islands will no longer need to provide proof of their Covid-19 vaccination or test unless requested.

This follows the statement by the World Health Organisation that Covid-19 is no longer a global public health emergency of international concern reports RNZ Pacific.

Travellers going to Solomon Islands are still encouraged to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Photo file  Caption: Honiara 

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.

University of Auckland’s Immunisation Advisory Centre medical director Dr Nikki Turner said child immunisation rates in areas like south Auckland remain in a state of crisis an outbreak could have dire consequences.

“Measles can spread like wildfire,” Turner said. “You only get immunity to it through vaccination, or if you’ve previously contracted it.”

“The problem is our childhood vaccination rates have dropped and a lot of other people didn’t receive their vaccinations when they were younger. So there are some real gaps in the community.”

The FDA said it "has significant concerns of bacterial contamination" in the test kit solution in some Pilot COVID-19 At-Home Tests.

Using the contaminated solution "may pose safety concerns" as well as cause the test to give an inaccurate result.

BBC reports the agency warned tests should be thrown out immediately.

Over 500,000 tests were distributed to the CVS drugstore and around 16,000 were distributed to Amazon.

None were made available through one of the federal government's testing programmes.

Fang is one of several so-called citizen journalists who disappeared after sharing videos of scenes in Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic.

After disappearing in February 2020, he was sentenced to three years in jail at a secret trial in Wuhan, sources said.

He was released on Sunday and is in good health, they added.

Fang is now back home in Wuhan. The BBC could not reach his family for comment.

XBB.1.16 was first detected in NSW in February this year, with infections slowly rising.

ABC Pacific reports the World Health Organization (WHO) assessed this strain as "low risk" on a global scale, compared with others currently in circulation.

However, the strain was designated a variant of interest by WHO earlier this month, as cases surged in India.

WHO did say it was a strain to watch, designating XBB.1.16 as a variant of interest on April 17.

What is the new variant?

81 new cases were recorded in the latest reporting week, marking a further rise of infections which shows the persistence of the virus reports RNZ Pacific.

Most cases are in the Society Islands but one in the Marquesas Islands was so serious, the patient had to be flown to the main hospital in Tahiti.

A total of three people with Covid-19 were reported to be in hospital, but none in intensive care.

People considered to be at particular risk are advised to keep up with the recommended vaccinations.

Photo file 

Victoria University epidemiologist Dr Mona Jeffreys has recently completed a nationwide study​ of 990 people who caught Covid-19 before December 2021.

But Jefferys says more research is needed, particularly into the impacts on Pacific people and how it affects those with additional challenges such as obesity or a history of heart disease. 

The health authorities say 66 infections were recorded in the past week, mainly among older people in Tahiti.

They say almost all infections are the latest variant of the virus, which is spreading around the globe.

However, to date no serious cases have been reported and no hospitalisation has been needed reports RNZ Pacific.

People are encouraged to get vaccinated, especially if they are at risk of complications.

Photo file 

Of the new cases, 4712 were reinfections.

RNZ reports there were also 211 people with Covid-19 in hospital as of midnight Sunday, with seven cases in ICU.

The seven-day rolling average of cases was 1605.

Last week 11,544 new cases were reported and 12 further deaths attributed to Covid-19.