Two Port Workers Positive For COVID-19: Tonga Lockdown This Afternoon, Doesn't Affect Aid Delivery

Aerial photo of Tonga after the eruption and tsunami. (Wikimedia Commons/NZ Defense Force)

JAKARTA - Tonga, which was recently hit by a seamount eruption and tsunami, announced that two dock workers had contracted COVID-19, prompting the previously virus-free country to go into lockdown on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the authorities said that the port workers who tested positive for COVID-19 were not those who worked at the docks used by the navies of friendly countries to deliver humanitarian aid.

There are fears an influx of international ships and planes delivering much-needed water, shelter and food, after a devastating volcanic eruption, has increased the risk of a pandemic outbreak in the isolated Pacific nation.

Prior to the announced two port worker positive confirmation cases, Tonga had only recorded one case of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

For information, the Australian navy ship, HMAS Adelaide, is known to have 23 cases of COVID on board when it docked at the Vuna dock last week and unloaded 250 pallets of aid into the quarantine zone.

The deputy head of the Tonga mission in Australia, Curtis Tu'ihalaningie, told Reuters the two cases were detected at different docks and were "not the one used by HMAS Adelaide".

"The port that has the infection case is different from the pier used for commercial cargo," he said, citing Reuters on February 2.

Aid deliveries will not change due to COVID-19 cases, he said, adding, "frontline workers need to be more careful".

Meanwhile, Australian Defense Forces Joint Operations Chief Greg Bilton said the case was not suspected to have originated from HMAS Adelaid, with samples from the two dock workers to be sent to Australia for testing to verify the origin of the coronavirus.

"I don't think it has anything to do with it, there's no evidence of that," he told Sky News.

Tonga radio station BroadcomFM reported on Wednesday three other cases had been detected in a family, bringing the total number of cases of COVID-19 infection to five.

Tongans queued at shops and banks on Wednesday ahead of a lockdown starting at 6pm local time, as authorities try to stop the spread of COVID.

Meanwhile, health authorities gave booster shots to the public on Wednesday, with more boost doses of the vaccine arriving from Australia and New Zealand. About 83 percent of the eligible population had received two doses of the vaccine.

In addition to HMAS Adelaide, three New Zealand and one British naval vessels, and two Chinese fishing vessels from Fiji have come into port and unloaded relief pallets. French, Japanese and Chinese naval vessels are also on their way to carry aid.

To note, the Government of Tonga has urged contactless aid deliveries, and all pallets unloaded from planes or ships are isolated for 72 hours before being distributed by local emergency services.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Tongan authorities said two workers at the Queen Salote dock who tested positive had been vaccinated, and it was not known if they had the Omicron variant.