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WORLD NEWS Saturday 29 January 2022
COVID hits one of the last uninfected places on the planet

By NICK PERRY and SAM In October, a missionary
METZ returning to Tonga from ser-
WELLINGTON, New Zealand vice in Africa was reported
(AP) — When the coro- as the country's first — and
navirus began spreading so far only — positive case
around the world, the re- after flying home via New
mote Pacific archipelago Zealand. Like those return-
of Kiribati closed its borders, ing to Kiribati, he also was
ensuring the disease didn't vaccinated and quaran-
reach its shores for nearly tined.
two full years. Tonga is desperately trying
Kiribati finally began re- to prevent any outbreaks as
opening this month, allow- it recovers from a devastat-
ing the Church of Jesus ing volcanic eruption and
Christ of Latter-day Saints tsunami earlier this month.
to charter a plane to bring The nation of 105,000 has
home 54 of the island na- been receiving aid from
tion's citizens. Many of those around the world but has
aboard were missionaries requested that crews from
who had left Kiribati be- incoming military ships and
fore the border closure to planes drop their supplies
spread the faith abroad for and leave without having
what is commonly known any contact with those on
as the Mormon church. the ground.
Officials tested each re- "They've got enough on
turning passenger three their hands without com-
times in nearby Fiji, required pounding it with the spread
that they be vaccinated, of COVID," said Petousis-
and put them in quaran- Harris, the vaccine expert.
tine with additional testing "Anything they can do to
when they arrived home. keep it out is going to be
It wasn't enough. important. COVID would
More than half the pas- be just compounding that
sengers tested positive for disaster."
the virus, which has now In the long term, however,
slipped out into the com- it is going to be impossible
munity and prompted the to stop the virus from en-
government to declare a This photo provided by Broadcom Broadcasting shows a damaged area in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, tering Tonga or any other
state of disaster. An initial Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, following Saturday's volcanic eruption near the Pacific archipelago. community, Petousis-Harris
36 positive cases from the Associated Press said.
flight had ballooned to 181 Nearby Samoa, with a
cases by Friday. basic health services. Pacific nations, including outside their home coun- population of 205,000, is
Kiribati and several other Dr. Api Talemaitoga, who Kiribati, where its 20,000 tries. also trying to prevent its
small Pacific nations were chairs a network of Indige- members make it the third- Church spokesperson Sam first outbreak. It imposed
among the last places on nous Pacific Island doctors largest Christian denomina- Penrod said the returning a lockdown through un-
the planet to have avoid- in New Zealand, said Kiriba- tion. The church has about missionaries remained in til Friday evening after 15
ed any virus outbreaks, ti had only a couple of in- 53,000 missionaries serving quarantine, were coop- passengers on an incom-
thanks to their remote lo- tensive care beds in the en- full time around the world, erating with local health ing flight from Australia last
cations and strict border tire nation, and in the past working to convert people. authorities and would be week tested positive.
controls. But their defenses relied on sending its sickest The pandemic has present- released from their service By Thursday, that number
appear no match against patients to Fiji or New Zea- ed challenges for their mis- upon completion of their had grown to 27, including
the highly contagious omi- land for treatment. sionary work, which is con- quarantine. five front-line nurses who
cron variant. He said that given the limi- sidered a rite of passage "With Kiribati's borders be- had treated the passen-
"Generally speaking, it's in- tations of Kiribati's health for men as young as 18 and ing closed since the onset gers. Officials said all those
evitable. It will get to every system, his first reaction women as young as 19. of the pandemic, many infected had been isolated
corner of the world," said when he heard about the As the pandemic ebbed of these individuals have and there was no commu-
Helen Petousis-Harris, a outbreak was, "Oh, my and flowed, the church continued as missionaries nity outbreak so far.
vaccine expert at the Uni- lord." responded. It recalled well beyond their 18 to 24 While the incursion of the
versity of Auckland in New Kiribati has now opened about 26,000 missionaries months of anticipated ser- virus into the Pacific has

Zealand. "It's a matter of multiple quarantine sites, who were serving overseas vice, with some serving as prompted lockdowns and
buying enough time to pre- declared a curfew and in June 2020, reassigning long as 44 months," he said. other restrictions, there
pare and getting as many imposed lockdowns. Presi- them to proselytize online Before this month's out- were signs that not all tradi-
people vaccinated as pos- dent Taneti Maamau said from home before send- break, Kiribati had reported tional aspects of island life
sible." on social media that the ing some back out into the just two virus cases: crew would be lost for long.
Only 33% of Kiribati's 113,000 government is using all its field five months later. members on an incoming "Government has decided
people are fully vaccinat- resources to manage the When COVID-19 vaccines cargo ship that ultimately to allow fishing," Kiribati de-
ed, while 59% have had at situation, and urged peo- became widely available wasn't permitted to dock. clared on Thursday, while
least one dose, according ple to get vaccinated. in many countries in April But the Kiribati charter flight listing certain restrictions
to the online scientific pub- The Church of Jesus Christ 2021, church officials en- wasn't the first time mission- on times and places. "Only
lication Our World in Data. of Latter-day Saints, based couraged all missionaries aries returning home to a four people will be allowed
And like many other Pacific in the U.S. state of Utah, has to get inoculated and re- Pacific island nation tested to be on a boat or part of a
nations, Kiribati offers only a strong presence in many quired it of those serving positive for COVID-19. group fishing near shore."q