COVID-19

The announcement was made by New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta.

New Zealand is donating additional Pfizer vaccines to the Pacific and AstraZeneca vaccines to the COVAX Facility to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The vaccines allocated to Samoa will be delivered in October.

The Minister of Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio said, “Aotearoa’s deliveries from Pfizer will ramp up over the next few months to provide enough vaccines for everyone in New Zealand to be vaccinated by the end of the year."

Fiji announced Covid-19 mandatory vaccination in July where public servants were told they would need to be fully vaccinated.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama directed this section of the workforce to vaccinate against the virus by November 1 or face losing their jobs.

He said people who received the state benefits would also need to get the jabs.

Workers rights' advocates and legal experts in Fiji had labelled the government's Covid-19 response as being "more of a fire brigade approach" and that it was not in control of the fight against the deadly virus.

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong said there were 32 new recoveries which means that there are now 12,982 active cases.

There were 50,200 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021, with 36,290 recoveries.

Doctor Fong said three people died from COVID-19 on the 15th and 16th of July.

All three were from the Central Division and were unvaccinated.

Three more positive patients died from serious pre-existing medical conditions.

Ale Vena Ale of Faleata 3 electoral constituency said he was worried about reports of the positive case in American Samoa, saying it was very close and he didn't want the coronavirus in his constituency with its high numbers of registered residents.

First time MP Fuaava Amataga Penaia of Aleipata Itupa i Luga electorate also urged the government to look more closely at the effects of the pandemic on the country before opening up borders.

This is compared to 50,128 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.

The Ministry of Health has recorded 118 new cases of COVID-19 for the 24-hour period that ended at 8 am yesterday.

Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong said there have been 113 new recoveries.

He said one new COVID-19 death has been recorded.

The deceased is a 59-year-old man from Nadi.

There have been four more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients.

However, these deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors.

From November, foreign travellers will be allowed to fly into the US if they are fully vaccinated, and undergo testing and contact tracing.

The US has had tough restrictions on travel in place since early last year.

The move answers a major demand from European allies, and means that families and friends separated by the restrictions can be reunited.

White House Covid-19 coordinator Jeff Zients announced the new rules on Monday, saying: "This is based on individuals rather than a country-based approach, so it's a stronger system."

The country recorded 49,889 cases as of last Sunday.

The minister told Parliament that the next task is to identify people who remain unvaccinated.

“This process has commenced in the greater Suva, Nausori, Sigatoka, Nadi corridor and they have already picked up segments of the population with some in the vulnerable categories who missed out during the initial trial”.

Dr Waqainabete added they want to ensure every Fijian is safe.

The Ministry had earlier said they will not make it mandatory for children to be vaccinated.

Fa'amatuainu said they are looking at how they maintain and retrain laid-off tourism workers for when Samoa reopens the border in the future.

He said they also want to maintain their local and overseas tourism marketing campaigns and have been assured financial assistance for this from the New Zealand government.

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The Moderna vaccine will be used in the rollout that begins on Monday.

Health Secretary James Fong said the Moderna vaccine would be rolled out by school clusters across the country.

Dr Fong said unlike the workforce, vaccination for children would only be conducted with the consent of parents or guardians.

Parents and guardians will need to sign a consent form for their children to receive the vaccine, he said.

He said parents could register their child online through the Vaccine Registry Portal which is available from this weekend.

The positive case was a passenger who arrived on the September 13 flight from Hawaii according to Department of health officials.

The passenger is now in isolation for 14-days for observation and additional tests.

This was confirmed by the territory's acting governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale, during a press conference, where he was surrounded by health officials.