Tiny Pacific Island Niue suffers Covid outbreak after opening borders to tourists

A coronavirus outbreak has erupted in Niue just a day after the tiny Pacific island reopened its borders to tourists for the first time in more than two years.

The island, situated 2,400km north-east of New Zealand, issued an alert after it detected 10 positive cases at the border last week. Wellington responded on Wednesday by sending a medical team to Niue to help deal with the outbreak.

Pacific Island nations were among the last countries in the world to record positive Covid-19 cases after sealing their borders in 2020 to protect their citizens. Niue recorded its first case only in March this year and has until now suffered no significant outbreaks.

But the precautions have also complicated relief efforts. When Tonga sought international aid after a tsunami struck in January, rescue workers brought the virus on shore with them.

Collin Tukuitonga, a professor of public health at the University of Auckland, said it was inevitable that a country such as Niue would be hit by Covid because of its reliance on tourism and workers who migrate to Australia and New Zealand.

However, the Pacific Islands have used the period of isolation to launch vaccination campaigns and prepare for the arrival of the virus. “Two years of lockdowns has served them well,” Tukuitonga said, noting that an outbreak in the nearby Cook Islands was well handled.

The Covid cases detected in Niue over the past week were contained at the border. But a number of citizens, including Dalton Tagelagi, the country’s premier, were forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with people that had tested positive.

Wellington dispatched a Hercules aircraft carrying a team of two doctors, three nurses, a lab technician and five New Zealand Defence Force personnel to Alofi, the capital of Niue, to assist local authorities.

Nanaia Mahuta, New Zealand’s foreign minister, said Niue had “enviable” vaccination rates with 99 per cent of the population over the age of five double vaccinated, providing a “strong defence” against the pandemic.

“Niue has had considerable success in keeping out Covid-19. We know from our own experiences how challenging it is to deal with this virus,” said Mahuta, who has been forced to pull out of a meeting of Pacific leaders in Fiji next week after testing positive for the virus.

Tukuitonga said that the relief effort was important for a country as small as Niue, which has only two doctors and a small hospital serving a population of about 1,600. “The main problem would be how the health service could cope,” he said.

Catherine Papani, a bakery owner who is head of the country’s chamber of commerce, told local media that she would isolate for three days despite testing negative after recently returning from abroad.

“It’s just being responsible . . . no one wants to get Covid or be the one to share it,” she said. “Health and safety of all is prioritised over the economics of business.”