COVID-19 pandemic

Association President Tagaloa Eddie Wilson said businesses across the country were on their knees and facing permanent closure.

Tagaloa said Cabinet should review State of Emergency orders and how they were restricting trade in an already strained economy.

He said the intention of the orders was good but they had been in place long enough and should now be done away with.

If the restrictions were not removed, Tagaloa said the association would start making demands for remedial action.

No cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in Samoa to date.

The government annnonced Tuesday night that Auckland will return to Alert Level 3 at midday Wednesday, following the discovery of four positive cases of Covid-19 in one south Auckland family.

The rest of the country will move into Alert Level 2.

The government said at this stage Alert Level 3 would finish at midnight Friday.

While the Crusaders had already been awarded the title, their game against the Blues at Eden Park on Sunday was a sell out.

Australia is battling a second wave in its south-east, with about 8000 active cases in Melbourne and smaller clusters in Sydney.

But elsewhere around the country, the virus has effectively been eliminated.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said interstate travel restrictions will likely persist until Christmas.

Last week, Queensland re-closed its borders to New South Wales - which includes Sydney - and the Australian Capital Territory.

Patricia Mallam, of the 350 Pacific organisation, said the climate crisis had not slowed or gone away.

Mallam said Pacific government priorities were more geared towards helping health systems to address the pandemic.

"It's a shame that it took a pandemic for us to see clearly where allegiances lie," she said.

"While governments and industries are figuring out an economic recovery, we want to remind them that you need to put the people first and we're talking about the health of the people and that also includes the environment that they're in."

The virtual roundtable is being convened by the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank with representatives from Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Fiji.

The UN's Sanaka Samarasinha said the discussion would be addressing border security.

Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "too many countries [were] headed in the wrong direction".

Cases were rising where proven measures were not adopted or followed, he added.

The Americas are the current epicentre of the pandemic. The US has seen a rise in cases amid tensions between health experts and President Donald Trump.

The US, the worst affected country, has over 3.3 million confirmed cases and more than 135,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

What has the WHO said?

Another 15,000 employees will continue to be stood down without pay over the coming months, particularly those associated with its international operations, as the pandemic prevents almost all international travel.

Chief executive Alan Joyce said the decision was painful to make, but also necessary if the airline was to survive the impact of the pandemic.

In a release to the Australian Stock Exchange, Qantas said about 100 of its aircraft would be grounded for up to 12 months, with some for longer.

Several other interim measures designed to ensure the safety of players and match officials have been ratified by the ICC Chief Executives Committee -- including allowing home umpires in international series.

International cricket will resume next month when West Indies face England in a three-match test series.

The tourists arived in Manchester today and will go into quarantine before the first game scheduled for July 8th.

The leaders met virtually last week to discuss the gender implications of Covid-19 in the Pacific.

Samoa's Deputy Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, and Australian Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, were the convenors of the meeting whose participants included other ministers, MPs and senior civil servants.

They idenfitied core areas where women and girls have been disproportionately affected.

These include health impacts where women healthcare workers are at the frontline of the pandemic response.

The fifth Amended Emergency Declaration is effective from today and allows public gatherings which are limited to 150 people and with social distancing in place.

Businesses can now operate from 5am to 9 pm but must allow just 50 percent of their capacity within the premises.

All schools will remain shut for the next 30 days, with the current school year closed.

Public beaches and parks have reopened for the first time since March.

American Samoa does not have a confirmed case of Covid-19.

The new declaration is in effect until 1 July.