Tonga the country that registers its first case of Coronavirus almost two years after the pandemic.

Tonga's trade and the circulation of its citizens will be affected as it registers its first case of Covid-19 for the first time.

Tonga is one of the few countries that had remained without Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic in 2019 that started in China. However, he has already detected his first patient.

Tonga is an island country in the South Pacific, its Prime Minister confirmed in an official statement the first case of a passenger who arrived in the country from New Zealand, for this single patient the island nation is preparing for a lockdown.

According to the New Zealand Ministry of Health, the infected passenger arrived in Tonga last Wednesday after having flown from Christchurch on a repatriation flight. The passenger was fully vaccinated and had tested negative days before leaving New Zealand. Upon arrival in Tonga, he was discovered among travelers who were staying in a hotel used as part of the security measures that isolates travelers in a mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the country.

"The positive result of the traveler upon arrival in Tonga could be due to the fact that since the traveler has both doses applied, the virus is struggling to grow in his organism and therefore in the PCR tests he will give positive. It could also be because the patient before of the vaccination was already infected asymptomatically, said the executive director of the Ministry of Health, Siale 'Akau'ola and according to the local media Matangi Tonga "It is better to identify it as positive and confine ourselves as a precaution now, than to worry and regret it later" -He claimed.

The rest of the passengers, who are 214, all tested negative and are completing their mandatory quarantine process upon arrival in the island country.

According to Tonga's health minister, Amelia Tuʻipulotu, this case will increase the pressure and participation of citizens to be vaccinated as part of strengthening the safety of the country.

31.7% of the population had been vaccinated, official data extracted on October 25, 2021.

Citizens will be paralyzed for an exact week, the confinement includes an 8:00 p.m. curfew. to 6:00 a.m. But no citizen should leave home or to work, circulation from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. It will only be allowed to carry out merely urgent mobilizations.

Public transport will be paralyzed, bars, restaurants, industry, shops, clubs, schools, churches and tourism will close and social distancing will be imposed.

The measures might seem harsh for a country that only reports a single case of Coronavirus, however Tonga, a country that until a few days ago reported a single case, wants to maintain that good record of a country that ensures the health security of its citizens .

Tonga is a Polynesian country that is made up of more than 170 islands in the South Pacific and about 100,000 inhabitants. It is a remote archipelago that lies about 800 kilometers east of Fiji and 2,380 kilometers from New Zealand.

Tonga is a Polynesian country that is made up of more than 170 islands in the South Pacific and about 100,000 inhabitants. It is a remote archipelago that lies about 800 kilometers east of Fiji and 2,380 kilometers from New Zealand.

Like other Pacific island nations, Tonga's first actions in declaring a state of emergency in March 2020 and closing its borders to foreigners protected it from covid-19 outbreaks that could have devastated the country. Approximately 22.1% of the population lives below the national poverty line and medical facilities and equipment are limited. A national pandemic would leave Tonga in worse shape. However, citizens are worried about losing income for a week and fear that confinement will gradually spread, as it happened throughout 2020 in the world.

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