Quarantine

Twenty-five players - thought to mostly be qualifiers - on board the flight from Doha to Melbourne must isolate in their room for 14 days.

Heather Watson is one of 47 players who were already quarantining and some are frustrated by the confinement.

Tournament organisers said the players were "already in quarantine hotels".

An Australian Open statement said: "One positive Covid-19 test has been returned from a passenger on a charter flight into Melbourne from Doha which arrived at 5.30am on 16 January.

Two dozen players who arrived from Los Angeles entered strict hotel quarantine after an aircrew member and Australian Open participant who is not a player tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Later, another non-player passenger on a flight from Abu Dhabi tested positive, prompting the organisers to usher 23 players into hotel quarantine.

All three who tested positive had been transferred to a health hotel, the organisers said in a statement.

The players would not be able to leave their hotel rooms for 14 days and until they are medically cleared, they said.

Chairman of the Center, Agafili Shem Leo, said more than 160 passengers from flights from New Zealand and Fiji on December 7 would need to have two negative final Covid-19 tests before they were released.

RNZ Pacific reports he also confirmed that 231 passengers on a flight from New Zealand 4 December had been released from quarantine last Friday, after all returning two negative covid tests.

Meanwhile a cargo flight from New Zealand which had been cancelled last Friday due to flooding at the airport arrived late on Saturday afternoon.

Having completed their Tri Nations programme in Australia, where they won the competition and also retained the Bledisloe Cup, the All Blacks were required to spend a fortnight in quarantine when they came back to New Zealand.

Now they are free to go home and enjoy their off-season before returning for training with their clubs next year to prepare for Super Rugby Aotearoa.

All Blacks stars Ardie Savea and Aaron Smith posted similar photos to Instagram. They were wearing masks as they prepared to leave their hotels on Monday morning.

The first agreement would be with New Zealand, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Other nations that could follow suit are Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Pacific Island nations.

Australia closed its borders in March, early into the pandemic.

To date, it has recorded 27,263 cases and 898 deaths.

It has fared better than other nations but recently saw a second wave in the state of Victoria, forcing Melbourne and its surrounding areas into another lockdown. Infections have fallen dramatically since.

RNZ understands a group of players have already told New Zealand Rugby they don't want to leave their young families for up to ten weeks, which would likely include spending Christmas in quarantine upon their return.

Those players include first-fives Richie Mo'unga and Beauden Barrett.

Mo'unga and his wife recently had their first child, while Barrett will become a father for the first time in the next month.

The Government advises that this extension will remain effective until the end of December, 2020.

Some exceptions have been made for humanitarian flights to transport essential equipment and medical supplies for the Government as it enters the final stages of its preparations for repatriation of nationals. 

A group of 20 nationals from the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) will be the first to be repatriated.

All repatriated nationals would be required to undergo mandatory quarantine at a Government-designated facility on South Tarawa.

Security guards at the Insel Ferhman Hotel could not stop the men driving into a restricted area last week and then one of the officers entered the hotel lobby.

They were reportedly delivering letters.

The Customs Minister, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, said the officers should have used their commonsense and stayed away from the hotel.

He said the three men could have avoided being placed in quarantine if they had listened to the security guards.

Samoa Police have confirmed that the pastor has been fined $2,000 tala.

The Officer in charge of Samoa’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said they responded to a call from the security firm to report the incident.

Filipo said the pastor’s wife returned to Samoa on one of the repatriation flights from New Zealand, and had been granted permission to be isolated in her own home.

She said the man was apprehended by police after only making it 50 metres from the hotel.

"They didn't even make 50 metres. Security and the police were on to it and it really does show the work of having the police on site.

"They could be immediately brought back into the facility. This is an example of the systems working as they should.

Air Commodore Darryn Webb said the 32-year-old man attempted to follow a staff member out of the gate, claiming he was a worker.