The Fiji Times

By STEPHEN HOWES and SHERMAN SURANDIRAN Virus hits the Pacific

All countries have engaged in lockdowns

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FOR a long time, the health narrative around COVID-19 in the island nations of the Pacific and Timor-Leste was quite positive. Yes, the economic costs of the pandemic were substantia­l, but the number of cases was low. Not anymore. The four countries most affected are Guam, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Timor-Leste and Fiji.

Guam, a territory of the United States, witnessed a surge in cases between August and November 2020 but since then has been able to contain the number of new infections. Case numbers took off in PNG in March 2021, climbing from a cumulative case total of 1670 as of March 8 to 16,682 as of June 13, a tenfold increase over three months.

In Timor-Leste, between April 13 and June 13, this year, the number of cumulative cases went up from 1074 to 8285 — an eightfold increase in just two months. The most recent country to experience an outbreak is Fiji. In the ten days preceding June 13, 2021, the cumulative number of cases more than doubled from 536 to 1118.

Other Pacific countries remain relatively unaffected, with just 30 recorded cases, the most recent in Kiribati on May 21, 2021.

While these numbers might still seem low, they are high on a per capita basis. On November 20, 2020, Guam recorded 528 new cases. Dividing this figure by its July 2021 population estimate of 168,801, its peak daily infection rate was 3128 cases per million people, ranking it above all other countries on the day. At Timor-Leste’s new-infections peak, on May 26 of this year, it had 325 new cases per million people, the 14th highest in the world on that day.

PNG registered its peak on March 26, with 62 cases per million people, the 92nd highest in the world on that day. Cases in Fiji are still on the way up. Its June 13, count was 116 cases per million people, placing it 25th globally in terms of number of new cases recorded per capita on the day.

The next figure shows the trajectory of new cases during peak outbreak periods for each of the four countries. Numbers may be coming down in PNG and Timor-Leste, but it is too early to say for Fiji.

The rise in cases starting in August last year in Guam has been linked to a number of arrivals from the US mainland at a time when earlier restrictio­ns had been eased. In PNG, the higher numbers have been attributed to ‘negligence and scepticism’. Fiji had been boasting of its success in keeping COVID-19 out, but its quarantine arrangemen­ts also became lax. In Timor-Leste, community cases were first detected in communitie­s across its border with Indonesia before spreading to its capital Dili. Floods in May and the consequent temporary relaxation of COVID-19 restrictio­ns could have also triggered the spike in case numbers.

All countries have engaged in lockdowns of various lengths and severity, which seem to have helped. Limited testing is a problem in PNG with a rolling average test rate of just 100 people per million as of April 18, (the most recent date for which we could find informatio­n). Fiji, on the hand, has been more proactive in testing, recording a seven-day rolling average of 3725 tests per million people (as of June 13).

The recent rise in cases makes vaccinatio­n all the more important, and not only for the four affected countries. Guam seems to be the Pacific’s vaccinatio­n leader. As of June 12, it had fully vaccinated 47 per cent of its population, a rate which puts it in 6th spot globally. This is perhaps one reason for the relatively low number of daily cases recorded recently.

The tiny island states of Nauru and Wallis and Futuna also have high vaccinatio­n rates. As of June 8, Nauru had recorded 69 vaccinatio­ns per 100 people, ranking it 19th globally in this regard, while Wallis and Futuna had fully vaccinated 37 per cent of its population, the 13th highest full vaccinatio­n rate in the world.

Fiji has 25 vaccinatio­ns per 100 people as of June 8, the 72nd highest rate in the world. But PNG and Timor-Leste are lagging on the vaccinatio­n front. Timor-Leste has issued seven vaccinatio­ns per 100 people and PNG has issued only 0.43 vaccinatio­ns per 100 people. The three lowest-ranked countries in the Pacific — Solomon Islands, PNG and Vanuatu — have vaccinatio­n rates similar to or lower than Africa’s average of 2.3 per cent. (By way of comparison, Australia’s vaccinatio­n rate was 23 per 100 people as of June 13.)

The last few months have shown that keeping COVID-19 at bay is not an assured strategy. A low level of vaccinatio­ns not only increases pandemic risks but also delays borders reopening. Getting vaccinatio­n rates up must be a top priority for the Pacific, especially in Solomon Islands, PNG, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste.

■ STEPHEN HOWES is the Director of the Developmen­t Policy Centre and a Professor of Economics at the Crawford School.

■ SHERMAN SURANDIRAN is a Research Officer at the Developmen­t Policy Centre. This research was undertaken with support from the Pacific Research Program, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessaril­y shared by this newspaper.

 This article appeared first on Devpolicy Blog (devpolicy.org), from the Developmen­t Policy Centre at The Australian National University.

 ?? Picture: (Juliao Fernandes/Wikimedia Commons) ?? Disinfecti­on during the COVID-19 pandemic in East Timor.
Picture: (Juliao Fernandes/Wikimedia Commons) Disinfecti­on during the COVID-19 pandemic in East Timor.
 ?? Graph: SUPPLIED ?? Daily number of new COVID-19 cases during peak periods.
Graph: SUPPLIED Daily number of new COVID-19 cases during peak periods.
 ?? Graph: SUPPLIED ?? COVID-19 vaccinatio­n rates in Pacific countries.
Graph: SUPPLIED COVID-19 vaccinatio­n rates in Pacific countries.
 ?? Graph: SUPPLIED ?? Total COVID-19 case count in Fiji, Guam, PNG and Timor-Leste.
Graph: SUPPLIED Total COVID-19 case count in Fiji, Guam, PNG and Timor-Leste.
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