Pacific countries

The number of Pacific Island nationals heading to Australia under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme has grown rapidly since COVID travel restrictions were eased, with the program now drawing in more than 35,000 workers on both short and longer term contracts.

The federal government has hailed the scheme as a major success, saying it has helped to fill workforce shortages in Australia while allowing Pacific Islanders to develop their skills and send valuable remittances back home.

Samoa won the region's only gold, through weightlifter Don Opolenge and the nation's lifters also won three silver medals. They also gained a silver in boxing.

Fiji won four medals overall, two of them in the rugby sevens, but there will be some disappointment that neither team could win their respective finals.

Weightlifting brought the only medals for Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Vanuatu gained a bronze from beach volleyball, and Niue gained its first-ever Games medal since being able to compete since 2002, with a boxing bronze.

Full list of Pacific medals:

Leading the region and the overall medal tally is Australia with 31 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze medals.

New Zealand is in third place with 13 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze medals.

Fiji is currently in 17th place with 2 silver medals.

Both in 20th place with 1 silver medal each are Papua New Guinea and Samoa.

72 countries are now heading into the sixth day of competitions.

That is despite several European countries and Australia limiting its use because of safety concerns.

In Australia, the Pfizer vaccine is now the preferred option for people under 50, Britain is offering an alternative for those under 30 while France and Belgium recommend AstraZeneca be given to those 55 and over.

European regulators said earlier this month they had found a possible link between AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine and a rare blood clotting problem that led to a small number of deaths.

With many living in New Zealand and wanting to travel, Jacinda Ardern emphasised the vaccine is key to a free travel passport.

“A lot of conversations with our Pacific neighbours, there’s a desire to make sure that we’re protecting our most vulnerable,” she says.

“And so any country I think that is looking to open up and have movement again, is aware that unless we have a vaccination programme that reaches our most vulnerable they are at risk. 

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.

Six cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the Pacific so far - the first three in French Polynesia and, last night, three more were confirmed in Guam.

Health officials have made no secret of their fears about the rapidly spreading virus, and what it could do in isolated countries with limited health resources. Many have pointed to the devastation wrought by the measles in Samoa last year.

In Samoa, the government further tightened travel restrictions to keep out the coronavirus over the weekend.

Over 11,000 workers from nine Pacific countries worked in New Zealand's horticulture and viticulture sectors last year under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme.

New Zealand recently announced it would increase the number of Pacific workers on the scheme to 12,850.

Amalgamated's national secretary Maurice Davis says they're trying to break down resistance to unions in the islands by explaining their role.

The aim is for this money to be used by states to build their own infrastructure.

The secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Dame Meg Taylor, said such a fund would allow Pacific nation to strengthen their infrastructure, so they are prepared for disaster instead of waiting for it to happen and then asking for help.

She said they will be looking for donors to back the idea.

Earlier this year the Ministry launched a social media and online campaign to raise more awareness about the diseases mosquitoes in some countries can carry. 

It was prompted by recent outbreaks of dengue at the time, mainly in Auckland, among travellers returning from the Pacific.

The Ministry of Health reports that from August last year through to March this year, 263 dengue cases were reported in New Zealand, with 222 believed to have been acquired in the Pacific Islands.