Kaniva News correspondent Patimiosi Ngūngūtau took this photo of an emotional farewell for a grieving Tongan family at the Tanoa hotel in Nukua’alofa this week.

The family requested that they stop outside the quarantine facility so that her daughter, who was in managed isolation after recently arriving from New Zealand could pay her respects to her mother, Ngūngūtau said.

The daughter can be seen grieving in a quarantine room as family console her from a distance on Tuesday.

A burial service was held after the MIQ farewell at the Pikipeavela cemetery in Haveluloto for the deceased.

The photograph shone a light on the struggles some people in managed isolation face when returning home for a family bereavement.

Tonga has a strict rule of 15-day quarantine at MIQs for repatriates who arrived at Fua’amotu International Airport.

Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku said Tonga had had 287 positive cases since the outbreak.

There were only 133 active cases at present, 57 had recovered and 78 cases had been discharged from MIQs.

One person who had covid died this week but the Minister of Health attributed his cause of death to the person’s underlying medical conditions.

Republished with permission from Kaniva Tonga News.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Tonga’s only suspected covid-19 case has tested positive when he took his third test today in Nuku’alofa.

The latest result came after the person was tested positive last week and tested negative on Monday this week.

The Health Ministry chief executive Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola said today the person had recorded a very weak positive result which likely reflected a historical infection.

He described the second positive result as “weaker than the first weak positive result”.

Dr ‘Akau’ola said the result showed what appeared to be a fragment of dead virus from old infections.

He said the ministry discussed the result with a team from the World Health Organisation (WHO) this morning.

He said there was a lot of “technicalities in the case”.

‘Not infectious’
“We believe the person is not infectious,” he said.

Dr ‘Akau’ola said the result meant there was no need to panic.

“It is not a new virus and the ministry is highly confident about it.

“The virus is shedding.”

He said the machines Tonga was using for the tests “are very sensitive”.

“Whenever they detected a fragment of a virus they will show it as positive”.

Dr ‘Akau’ola was speaking during a press conference this afternoon attended by the Prime Minister and a team of government officials.

The patient has been transferred to a special quarantine facility in Mu’a after he arrived at the kingdom from Christchurch last Wednesday on a flight carrying 215 people.

They had four contacts in New Zealand — all of whom returned negative tests.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A person who tested positive for covid-19 in Tonga has now tested negative, says the Ministry of Health CEO.

Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola said another test was expected tomorrow for the patient.

He said yesterday the covid-positive person, who arrived in Tonga from Christchurch, would continue to stay in the MIQ until his 21-day quarantine was over.

Dr ‘Akau’ola, who joined the Prime Minister and a team of government officials in a press conference in Nuku’alofa, said he was advised on Monday that the person had provided a second negative test.

Dr ‘Akau’ola reiterated during the conference that the sample from the patient was tested on Thursday, October 28 and Friday, October 29. He referred to the positive result as “weak positive”.

The Tonga case came after a weak positive case tested negative on the second test in New Zealand.

Last month, a covid-positive person who travelled to Katikati from Auckland, tested negative on their second test.

“The person had a high CT value, indicating a weak positive result, and was tested again following their initial positive result last week”, Stuff reported.

Tested on three machines
‘Akau’ola said the person’s sample was tested on all three of the Health Ministry’s covid-19 testing machines on October 28.

He also repeated what he had said in the previous conference on Friday that the weak virus could be a historical virus or a “baby virus” which tried to grow, but was stopped by the antibiotic because the patient was fully vaccinated.

“The nature of the virus is shedding and it can be negative or positive at various times and this is why we have the 21-day quarantine rule.”

All the people on the flight from Christchurch were required to have negative covid tests prior to departure.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health said the positive case was fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, and had their second dose on October 15.

Tonga’s main island Tongatapu is currently on lockdown for one week until Monday, November 8.

Kalino Latu is editor of Kaniva Tonga. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz