Covid-19 Pacific Update: 'Double body blow' for Fiji as it grapples with cyclone and coronavirus

There are 230 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and six deaths in seven locations across the Pacific.

The number of cases in Guam has increased to 128, with four deaths. This number doesn’t include the 230 sailors from the docked USS Theodore Roosevelt who’ve tested positive to Covid-19.

French Polynesia has 51 cases, New Caledonia 18, The Northern Mariana Islands is at 11 with 2 deaths, Fiji has 15 cases, Rapanui has five cases and Papua New Guinea has two cases.

As Guam grapples with the highest number of cases in the Pacific authorities are preparing space for 500 graves in its public cemetery. The island’s medical advisors have projected 3000 deaths in the next five months and even if the spread of Covid-19 is halved it’s expected there’ll be 700 deaths.

A petition is circulating in Kiribati to stop a planned charter flight from Fiji bringing home locals stranded there. On Kiribati’s main island of Tarawa there’s widespread fear the flight will bring in Covid-19.

The Pacific Forum has held a meeting with foreign ministers from each country looking at a regional approach to Covid-19. One of the biggest issues is the movement of Covid-19-related humitarian and medical help across borders for Pacific countries in need. A ministearial action group has been set up to look at how barriers can be moved safely to get urgent assistance to those who need it in the months ahead.

Papua New Guinea has stopped all public transport from today over the weekend. In new border restrictions no one is allowed into PNG unless personally approved by the Police Commissioner.

Samoa has cancelled registration fee payments for buses and taxis for the rest of the year, private vehicles will get 10 per cent off.

Cyclone Harold, now categtory 3, has moved out to open sea after causing havoc in Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga. There’s been widespread damage with two deaths reported in Vanuatu and 27 people died after being swept off a ferry in the Solomon Islands. Fiji’s Prime Minister has described cyclone as a “double body blow” as it grapples with Covid-19.