WHO will not send aid teams to Tonga to avoid risk of carrying Covid-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) will not send international aid teams to Tonga due to the risk of bringing the coronavirus into the community, he told CNN WHO Pacific Covid-19 incident manager Sean Casey this Wednesday (19).

Casey, who is based in Fiji, told CNN that the runway of Tonga’s main international airport was cleared of ash after a massive underwater volcanic eruption near the island nation on Saturday (15), with three dead so far, according to his colleague in Tonga, Dr. Yutaro Setoya.

Tonga is one of the few Covid-free countries in the world. He reported his first case – the only one of the pandemic, according to WHO and Johns Hopkins University data – in October 2021, spurring a lockdown.

“Some of the last Covid-free countries in the world are in the Pacific, and they used the time they were Covid-free to vaccinate their population and prepare their healthcare systems,” Casey said, adding that currently all arriving travelers, including humanitarian workers, are required to be quarantined for three weeks.

“We have a lot of natural disasters in this part of the world and you don’t want to have to deal with multiple emergencies at once if it can be avoided,” he added.

According to WHO assessments, supplies most needed include telecommunications tools such as satellite phones, water sanitation equipment and materials for repairing and building shelters.

According to Casey, the communication challenges in Tonga are some of the worst he has ever seen. The Internet remains down and cell service on islands outside the capital Tongatapu remains severely disrupted, he said.

“Everyone in Tonga, every family in the city, is affected by this. This is always the case in the Pacific. The numbers seem very small, but the impact proportionately in a very small country is enormous”, said Casey.