COVID-19 response

Spokesperson Milikini Failautusi said disinformation has been an issue and her team is working on a plan to tackle the issue for the new year.

"A lot of misconceptions and fears about the covid because people, via social media, were able to get the wrong information, they were able to get the misleading information from the internet."

She said the spread of the virus has been rapid, all of the 50 actively engaged Red Cross volunteers in Funafuti who are on the frontline - have had Covid-19 according to RNZ Pacific.

The chairman of the Covid 19 Task force, Lieutenant Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale, says Covid is surging in the community and American Samoa must adjust to address the needs of the community.

"We need to move away from mass and indiscriminate lockdown policies and focus on adopting realistic and targetted policies to ensure that our people are able to live their lives safely while ensuring that life-saving services are accessible to our public," Talauega said.

And President Lionel Aingimea has highlighted the need for a strong, collective and multi-lateral response to pave the way forward to finding solutions towards mitigating the pandemic and its knock-on effects on the economy, the safety and well-being of our people and environment.

President Aingimea made the comments in a pre-recorded statement to the 31^st Special Session of the UN General Assembly in response to the coronavirus pandemic in New York.

He said Nauru’s historical experience is their key to surviving this pandemic.

The flight departed Brisbane, Australia, with a stop in Nadi, Fiji, then Kiribati and Nauru. Cargo on-board included personal protective equipment such as face shields, masks, surgical gowns, as well as ventilators and testing cartridges, transported on behalf of the Government of Kiribati, the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Australian Government. 

The US Ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati and Nauru Joseph Cella presented the life-saving machines to Nauru’s High Commissioner to Fiji, Micheal Aroi in Suva today (Wednesday).

Cella said the US continues to lead the global response to this financially devastating and cruel plague, allocating nearly US$21 billion in the global fight against it.

He added that the donation from the American people will boost Nauru’s health care preparedness capacity to respond with such treatment should any case arise.

The countries include Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Cook Islands, and Niue.

Commenting on the delivery, Abdulla Al Subousi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the UAE to Australia, said, "Today’s aid shipment to Pacific island countries reflects the UAE’s continued efforts to support and stand by these countries to contain the spread of COVID-19 by providing critical medical supplies and protection to strengthen the efforts of healthcare personnel."

The other countries are the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.

The countries will receive the following grant amounts, which will enable them to kickstart their disaster response plans: $470,000 for FSM; $370,000 for the Marshall Islands; $320,000 for Nauru; and $370,000 for Tuvalu.