The infected individual was among 215 people on a repatriation flight from Christchurch, New Zealand. Others onboard included members of Tonga’s Olympic team who had been stranded in the city since the Tokyo Olympics.
New Zealand’s health ministry said that the individual had tested negative before leaving the country.
But authorities in Tonga said a positive reading was recorded after a routine test on Thursday, done while in compulsory managed isolation.
Siale Akau’ola, chief executive of Tonga’s health ministry, told reporters that the infected Tongan had received a second dose of the vaccine in mid-October, and that authorities were satisfied the person would not become seriously ill.
It seems like everyone did the right thing and the odd one slipped through - nevertheless, the Tongan authorities seem to be in control of the situation.
AFAIK, hardly anyone had heard of Tonga before her visit but those who saw her (and she was in all the newspapers and magazines) never forgot the name and never forgot Queen Salote. Queen Elizabeth visited Tonga 3 times … 1953, 1970 and 1977.
I can imagine she is one of these people who does stick in the mind
I didn’t know that about Queen Elizabeth…imagine them having tea together…our queen is a tiny wee thing…oh my gosh, I just realised that picture you showed, IS our queen, and Queen Salonte of Tonga!
Tonga is a Polynesian country, about 1,800 kilometres (1,100 mi) from New Zealand’s North Island; it is an archipelago comprising 169 islands, of which 36 are inhabited. The archipelago’s total surface area is about 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi) scattered over 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 sq mi) of the southern Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, Tonga had a population of 104,494, 70% of whom resided on the main island, Tongatapu, which is where the capital city of Nukuʻalofa is located.
Tonga became known in the West as the “Friendly Islands” because of the congenial reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit in 1773. He arrived at the time of the annual ʻinasi festival, which centres on the donation of the First Fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga (the islands’ monarch), and so he received an invitation to the festivities. Ironically, according to the writer William Mariner, the political leaders actually wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but didn’t go through with it because they couldn’t agree on a plan of action for accomplishing it.
From 1900 to 1970, Tonga had British protected-state status. The United Kingdom looked after Tonga’s foreign affairs under a Treaty of Friendship, but Tonga never relinquished its sovereignty to any foreign power. In 2010, Tonga took a decisive step away from its traditional absolute monarchy and towards becoming a fully functioning constitutional monarchy, after legislative reforms paved the way for its first partial representative elections.
not a large number of people to vaccinate before the virus arrived but I guess some would have refused it.
