Any gatherings that exceed 10 people should be banned until the all clear is given here that everyone that arrived over the last three weeks has tested negative for Covid-19.

Ali Macquarie, Titikaveka puna lead, in a statement yesterday said: “We have gone into level 2 but we are not even practicing the required social distancing of two metres apart says.”

“For example, there were two very large funerals on Rarotonga this week. There were family members who travelled from New Zealand for one funeral who had been in contact with hundreds of family and friends here before being tested. There was no social distancing practiced and although masks were issued, they weren’t stringently worn. It is just really fortunate that the family members all returned negative results. But the situation could’ve been a lot different – these are just examples of how exposed we are as a very close community.”

According to Te Marae Ora Ministry of Health, a total of 1644 people have been swabbed over the last four days (as of 5pm yesterday) and 1613 swabs had been processed, all returning negative results. Most of the people who have been tested for Covid here are Kiwis holidaying.

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But Macquarie said: “Ideally, as another precautionary measure, even our own citizens who have been in contact with visitors from New Zealand should be tested as well. We need to bear in mind that NZ visitors could have been asymptomatic Covid carriers.”

New Zealand is tracing cases back as far as August 3 and Macquarie says the most stringent precautions need to be taken, with all schools closing down and gatherings such as churches put on hold “…until we are completely in the all clear.”

Ali Macquarie. 21082026

“I agree with Dr Ngaei Tou that if an outbreak occurred here it would be catastrophic and we wouldn’t be able to contain it simply because of our response capacity, close community ties and constant contact with each other. We live in close proximity to each other – village settings on a small island.”

He adds that all schools should have been closed on Monday night until all tests results came back negative. “We have over 2000 children who have not been vaccinated and are at risk – at risk also is 54 per cent of our population who fall into this serious category because they have some form of NCD (non-communicable disease).”

“The Immigration offices have closed down, which makes sense, so why aren’t our high-risk areas like schools and churches also closed down?

“Dr Ngaei’s concerns are well-founded – we have only four ventilators and limited high dependency beds, so I’m urging the government to make these proactive decisions, we need to be ahead of the game and not just reacting to situations.

“We acknowledge and are very grateful for the amount of work that’s gone into getting our services and health professionals as ready as we can, but we must be realistic that we will be unable to cope with any outbreak, despite our best intentions to prepare.”

Responding to concerns raised by Dr George Ngaei, Te Marae Ora on Thursday said: it “is as ready as it can be” to deal with any likely outbreak of Covid-19 in the Cook Islands.

According to the ministry, there’s a 10-bed isolation ward with negative pressure at the hospital to receive Covid-19 patients needing respiratory support. 

The hospital has four ventilators and other life support equipment available. There are also supplies of personal protection equipment (PPE) for staff, it said.

Secretary of Health Bob Williams said: “Considerable thought and work has gone into getting our services and people as ready as we can be, within the scope of our resources.”

On Wednesday, Cook Islands Cabinet decided to extend the current Alert Level 2 status as well as continued suspension of inwards flight arrivals until 11.59pm Monday, August 23. A Ministerial order that requires flights to the Pa Enua to be cargo only flights, with returning flights able to transport passengers and cargo to Rarotonga remains in place.

Macquarie said: “As long as New Zealand is registering positive community Covid cases, our border must remain closed. The government must remain firm about this, it cannot be swayed by the agenda of big tourist-related businesses to run risks and open our borders prematurely.”