There is a common saying that goes – when the going gets tough, the tough get going! And this week was a good example of that saying, writes Prime Minister Mark Brown.

On Monday afternoon last week when New Zealand announced that a positive community case of Covid-19 had been identified and they would be moving into Alert Level 4 lockdown, it obviously became a matter of significant concern which would also impact us here in the Cook Islands.

But this was not an unexpected occurrence. We always knew we might have to deal with a situation like this. We had planned for it and we were prepared.

Accordingly, your government swung into action immediately.

Moving immediately on Monday night to Alert Level 2, our Border Easement Taskforce implemented new precautionary measures at the border which included a pause on all international passenger arrivals and a suspension of travel to the Pa Enua.

At the same time, that same Monday night, Te Marae Ora (TMO) were in readiness to begin contact tracing, swabbing and testing recent arrivals, while also encouraging all in the Cook Islands to practice social distancing, maintain good basic hygiene and use the CookSafe and CookSafe+ contact tracing tools.

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After less than 48 hours, TMO had swabbed 1411 people across Rarotonga and Aitutaki, with almost half of those swabs already processed and returning a negative result for Covid-19. Two days later that tally had risen to 1644 swabs and 1613 test results, all negative.

As of 4.30pm yesterday Te Marae Ora had swabbed a total of 2287 people, with 2020 of those having been processed for testing and all returning a negative result.

Unlike the vast majority of other countries across the globe, we continue to stave off the Covid-19 virus and we should all be incredibly appreciative and grateful for the efforts of our government workers and volunteers across all our departments, as well as those in the community and private sector who are also doing their part to help keep the Cook Islands Covid-free.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the number of Covid-19 cases in the community has now risen to over 140, masks are mandatory inside essential businesses, and as I write these words the entire country remains in Level 4 lockdown.

New Zealand has also ramped up its vaccination rollout in order to better combat Covid-19, and two days ago reached the highest number of vaccinations in one day, 63,333.

In line with those efforts, the New Zealand government has now approved the Pfizer vaccine for use in 12-15 year olds and this is something we are also looking at doing here in the Cook Islands – our TMO team is working on the logistics of this operation right now.

Be assured that as part of our planning we anticipated another lockdown and have set some funds aside in the budget for the reintroduction of the wage subsidy and sole trader grants.

Prime minister mark brown

As to the immediate future, opening our borders to New Zealand again will depend on how well the virus is contained and eliminated by New Zealand. We do know that with the Delta variant the infections rates are much higher. It will take more weeks before we will get an idea of how effective the Level 4 lockdown in NZ will be. That gives us some indication of how long our pause on travel from New Zealand will continue for and when we will again be able to welcome the tourists that are such an important factor in keeping our economy pumping.

We have come through 15 months of tough times and until last week we enjoyed 3 months of recovery and an inkling on how quickly we can bounce back as an economy. For some this uncertainty will be difficult to bear, I know – but it is the reality we now find ourselves living in, and it will be our ability to roll with the punches and take the good with the bad that will see us through.

Be assured that as part of our planning we anticipated another lockdown and have set some funds aside in the budget for the reintroduction of the wage subsidy and sole trader grants. More will be announced on these in the coming days.

Take heart from the fact that we as a nation continue to do all the right things and remember that keeping the Cook Islands Covid-free is a team effort – a team I for one am immensely proud to be a part of.