PINA

Around 36,800 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses from COVAX, funded by Japan, arrived in Tonga Thursday, said Ministry of Health CEO Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola. These doses would be sent to start vaccination rollouts in Ha’apai and the Niuas. Another batch of vaccines was expected from Australia, and New Zealand also had plans to provide the Pfizer vaccines, which the Ministry of Health...

The next three months will be a critical period for stepping up global collective action against future pandemics, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday, pointing to three major meetings on the international agenda. Although the COVID-19 caseload stabilised last week, after nearly two months of increases, the level remains high, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom...

By Solomon Yeo and Vishal Prasad The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has reaffirmed that no one is safe from the climate crisis. Globally, we all now face the impacts of a warming planet. Here in the Pacific, we are faced with some of the most extreme effects of the crisis with predictions showing the worst is yet...

Amid reports of growing demand for kava, Bundaberg Regional Council is looking at potential partnership opportunities for the region in the future. Within a recent submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade(DFAT), responding to the Pacific Labour Mobility discussion paper, the local council outlined how legal and safe consumption of kava could make for a more for a...

In an online news conference with Pacific Islands journalists Wednesday, U.S Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i) said the United States needs to "step up" engagement in the region in order to help tackle the “catastrophic” effects of climate change, COVID and a variety of other issues. “The U.S is a Pacific nation, and our leaders need to be more involved in...

The Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands have submitted an ambitious new proposal to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the United Nations specialist agency responsible for regulating international shipping, urging all its 174 member states to support their bid to decarbonise the shipping sector by 2050. The Pacific island nations want their proposal, 'Resolution on zero emissions no later...

Fiji has recorded 255 new cases of COVID-19 and six deaths reported Wednesday, increasing the total number of cases to 44,675 and 457 deaths since the outbreak in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 138 cases are from the Western division and 117 cases are from the Central division in Vitilevu, Fiji's main Island. He said 15 more...

The Heads of Customs administrations in the region are holding their annual conference virtually today to discuss challenges in the region and possible solutions as well as adopt the Pacific Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (PACHS) 2022, which comes into effect from 01 January next year. "COVID-19 is continuing to disrupt our daily lives and if we thought 2020...

Kiribati is the latest country in the Micronesia sub region to officially communicate its intent to withdraw from the Pacific Islands Forum on 23 July 2021. The formal communication was made to the Government of Fiji as the depositary of the 2000 Agreement Establishing the Pacific Islands Forum. In a statement, the Kiribati Government said the decision to withdraw from the...

New Zealand’s director general of health has condemned “gutless” racism against Pacific communities, as the Covid-19 outbreak continues to grow. Announcing case numbers on Wednesday, Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the ministry of health had seen racism being directed at Pacific New Zealanders, and that those racist remarks were “disappointing – and frankly, gutless”. “I’m asking everyone in the country to be...