Key Points
- Tokelau, a New Zealand territory, can only be reached by boat via Samoa.
- Its geographical isolation, and entry requirements had helped its people avoid COVID-19.
- It is the last place in the Pacific to report a case.
Tokelau has recorded its first-ever COVID-19 infection, two years, two months and nine days after the World Health Organization announced the start of the pandemic.
On 20 December, the non-self-governing territory of New Zealand recorded five cases, bringing an abrupt end to its avoidance of a positive case.
It's the last place in the Pacific to report its first infection and the second-last place in the world, with Turkmenistan, a landlocked country of more than six million people in Central Asia, still claiming to be COVID-free.
Tokelau's Ulu o Tokelau - or head of government - Siopili Perez said the cases had been detected by rapid antigen tests (RATs) while in quarantine in Atafu, the territory's northernmost atoll.
Across Tokelau's three atolls - a ring-shaped island formed of coral - the population of about 1500 has staved off cases because of its geographical isolation, high vaccination rates, and requirement of a negative RAT.
Around 96 per cent of its eligible population are vaccinated, with a request for New Zealand to speed up its second shipment of boosters in the wake of their first cases.
Boxes containing the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are unloaded onto the HMNZS Wellington sailing for Tokelau and the Northern Cook Islands in July, 2021. Source: Getty / Hannah Peters
The COVID-19 cases came from a group who travelled by boat from another atoll, Fakaofo, with passengers from Apia in Samoa.
Its closest neighbour, Samoa, is about 500km or 24 hours away by boat, which is the only means to travel to the territory.
With no established tourist industry, most visitors travelling in and out of the territory are Tokelaun or Tokelaun descendants visiting from New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii.
Current restrictions in the territory require all visitors to be fully vaccinated and return a negative RAT within 24 hours of boarding the vessel to Tokelau. The territory has since imposed an inter-atoll travel ban to curb the potential spread of the virus.
It is one of many Pacific Islands facing their first cases this year. Kiribati, Samoa, Palau and Solomon Islands all experienced outbreaks during January.
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In St Helena, a British territory 1,950 kilometres southwest of Africa, the population of about 4500 had similarly staved off COVID-19 with strict quarantine restrictions up until 8 August this year.
While its first recorded cases were in January 2022 and in quarantine, it did not spread in the community until 8 August 2022 when St Helena lifted its COVID-19 entry regulations.
After the territory scrapped quarantine, testing and mask-wearing requirements, 506 positive cases were recorded within six weeks - infecting 11.5 per cent of the population.
