Pacific Islands’ zero-Covid strategies unsustainable, professor says
People wearing face masks at a supermarket in Suva, Fiji, April 23, 2021.
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Countries all over the world have seen Covid-19 cases surge since the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant, with new infections soaring by 20% globally over the past week.
In the Pacific Islands, however, it’s been a different story.
Many of the small island states nestled in the Pacific Ocean have had no new cases of the virus for months — and some of those countries have remained virtually Covid-free throughout the pandemic.
As of Tuesday, Tonga, Samoa, Wallis and Futuna, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands had no active cases of the virus, according to figures from Our World in Data.
Maintaining a long-term state of zero Covid infections has largely been achieved by closing the islands off to all non-essential international travel and implementing strict quarantine measures to control the spread of the few cases that have been imported.
Although many of the islands’ borders are still closed, some have tentatively begun to reopen. Those countries that remain isolated now find themselves in a precarious position as they attempt to balance public health with the recovery of their tourism-reliant economies.
Zero Covid a ‘non-starter’ as a long-term policy
Andrew Preston, a professor of microbial pathogenesis at the University of Bath in the U.K., told CNBC that zero-Covid strategies were unsustainable, partially due to the emergence of omicron.
“The scenario under which zero Covid had the greatest credibility was maintaining it while very high levels of immunity were built with vaccination,” he said. “However, for most countries, it has proved very difficult to get a level of vaccination high enough to prevent any spread of an imported case, and now with the ability of omicron to reinfect and infect those vaccinated it appears to be a non-starter as a long-term policy.”
Zero-Covid strategies have also taken a huge economic toll on many of the islands, putting pressure on governments to ramp up vaccination so that borders can be reopened safely.
According to an IMF report published in October, GDP across the Pacific Islands contracted by 3.7% in 2020, with tourism-dependent countries — Fiji, Palau, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu — expected to have seen a 6.5% decline in real GDP in 2021.
The Cook Islands, which has political ties to New Zealand, currently has no cases of the virus. Its Covid response strategy is linked to the situation in New Zealand, where 80 new cases were recorded on Monday.
Some restrictions are in place, including limits of 100 people at social gatherings and the enforcement of social distancing in restaurants and bars. Face coverings are encouraged but not mandated.
Last week, the Cook Islands took steps to reopen its borders. All incoming visitors must travel via New Zealand, where they are required to spend 10 full days before departing for the Cook Islands. Visitors must…
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