American Samoa records more Covid-19 cases
Four more Covid-19 cases has been recorded in American Samoa.
The Department of Health's Chief Epidemiologist Aifili John Tufa confirmed the recent cases.
Three passengers on last Thursday's Hawaiian Airlines flight tested positive for coronavirus after their first Covid-19 tests upon arrival.
Epidemiologist Aifili Dr John Tufa Photo: RNZ Pacific / Monica Miller
A staff member working at the Tradewinds Hotel quarantine site also tested positive.
Dr Tufa said the positive cases are in isolation at the Health Department's facility at Tafuna.
He said all staff at the Tradewinds Hotel quarantine site will be tested daily.
A total of 274 passengers made the January 27th flight and those who are negative after the second test on Thursday will be released .
NZ govt makes available a vaccine fund for Pacific communities
The New Zealand government is providing a NZD$1.5 million vaccine fund to help Pacific communities get boosted.
Community groups, Pacific churches and youth groups, and others who work with marginalised communities will be eligible to apply for up to 40,000 dollars each.
Associate Minister of Health, Aupito William Sio, said it's vital Pacific children aged between five and 11 are vaccinated and boosted before winter.
National vaccination figures for adult Pasifika show that 97 percent have received their first dose, and 94 percent are fully vaccinated with two doses.
But, only 32 percent of Pacific due for a booster have received one so far compared to 42 percent of Māori.
Fiji opposition MPs deny corruption charges
Five Opposition Members of Parliament in Fiji have pleaded not guilty to corruption charges.
The MPs from the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) appeared in the High Court in Suva on Monday, each charged with one count of giving false information to a public servant and one count of obtaining financial advantage.
The charges also relate to their alleged collective claims of $186,749.20 in parliamentary allowances that the prosecution claims they were not entitled to.
Ratu Suliano Matanitobua, Niko Nawaikula, Peceli Vosanibola, Salote Radrodro and Simione Rasova have denied the charges.
Meanwhile, FijiFirst MP Vijendra Prasad will take his plea on Friday.
Sodelpa MP Adi Litia Qionibaravi was absent from the proceedings for medical reasons.
Iriti regains Arue mayoralty in Tahiti
A French Polynesian mayor whose election two years ago had been annulled has regained her post.
Teura Iriti was re-elected after she secured more than 70 percent of yesterday's vote in the first round in the mayoral race in Arue.
She had been forced out of office last November when France's highest court had ruled that in 2020, 115 proxy votes cast for her were fraudulent.
While two of her colleagues were declared ineligible, Ms Iriti was allowed to stand again.
Declaring herself an apolitical candidate in 2020, she defeated veteran mayor Philip Schyle [sheel] by fewer than 70 votes.
The other two candidates in yesterday's election were Leo Marais, who was backed by the ruling Tapura Huiraatira Party, and Tepuanui Snow.
They won 21 and eight percent of the vote, respectively.
In 2014, Ms Iriti was elected as one of French Polynesia's two members of the French Senate on a ticket of the Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party, but the two lost their seat only a year into their six-year term.
A French court ruled that a march by hundreds of party supporters to the polling station on election day had amounted to undue pressure on the 700-strong electoral college.
It ordered a fresh election, which saw two different senators chosen.
Tahiti's Tahoeraa changes name
French Polynesia's once dominant Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party has officially changed its name to Amuitahiraa no te nunaa Maohi.
A long-delayed weekend Congress in Tahiti voted for the change and endorsed its programme of working towards the territory becoming independent in association with France.
The party, which was founded 45 years ago, had for decades promoted autonomy, and with Gaston Flosse as its leader, it was in government for much of its history.
However, it was weakened after 2014 when Flosse lost the presidency over a corruption conviction, and most senior party members were either expelled or defected.
The Congress also endorsed Flosse's partner Pascale Haiti as one of the candidates in this year's election of a new French National Assembly.
In the French presidential election, the Amuitahiraa will support the centre-right candidate Valerie Pecresse.
Observers noted the absence of key members from the Congress, such as its most senior territorial assembly member, Teura Iriti.