COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Oceania on 25 January 2020 with the first confirmed case reported in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It has since spread elsewhere in the region, although many small Pacific island nations have thus far avoided the outbreak by closing their international borders. Six Oceania sovereign states have yet to report a case: Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, and Tuvalu. Australia and New Zealand have been praised for their handling of the pandemic compared to other western nations, with the latter wiping out all community transmission of the virus. The most recent country or territory to report its first confirmed case was Samoa, on 18 November 2020.

Australia


On 25 January, the first case of a SARS-CoV-2 infection was reported, that of a Chinese citizen who arrived from Guangzhou on 19 January. The patient received treatment in Melbourne. On the same day, three other patients tested positive in Sydney after returning from Wuhan.

On 1 March, a 78-year-old man from Western Australia, who had been a passenger on the Diamond Princess, became the first person to die from coronavirus in Australia. He died in a hospital in Perth.

Australian borders were closed to all non-residents from 20 March; all returning travellers are required to undergo two weeks' quarantine in hotels. From March onwards, many states and territories also closed their internal borders, with similar quarantine requirements for exempt travellers. A breach of quarantine in Melbourne hotels led to the state of Victoria experiencing a second wave and returning to strict lockdown measures from July through to October.

, Australia has reported a total of 27,590 cases, 25,324 recoveries and 907 deaths. The Australian National Cabinet's stated pandemic policy goal is "zero community transmission," in contrast to the mitigation policies of most other Western countries.

Norfolk Island
As of 3 April, Norfolk Island has not had any cases. As a precautionary measure the government has imposed a 32-day travel ban and declared a state of emergency. Administrator Eric Hutchinson stated that the measures were necessary due to the remote island's extremely limited health capacity. Lockdown measures began to be lifted from 6 May.

Easter Island
On 19 March, the local government of Easter Island ordered a lockdown of the island and requested LATAM Airlines to evacuate all tourists on the island. However, on 24 March, the first case of coronavirus was reported on the island. By the start of April, 5 confirmed cases had been reported. All cases have recovered after some weeks and no new cases have been reported since.

Fiji
The first case of the disease in Fiji was reported on 19 March 2020.

On 31 July 2020, Fiji recorded its first death from COVID-19. A 66-year-old man who was repatriated from India.

As of 17 December, Fiji has a total of 46 COVID-19 cases and 2 deaths, all from the islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

French Polynesia
On 11 March, the first case in French Polynesia was confirmed. The first patient was Maina Sage, a member of the French National Assembly. There were 39 confirmed cases on 4 April. A ban on sales of alcohol was extended until the crisis is over.

As of 11 November 2020, 11,316 cases and more than 4,842 recoveries had been reported in French Polynesia.

New Caledonia
As of 18 July, there have been twenty-two cases in New Caledonia. President Thierry Santa went into self-isolation on 4 April after a member of his staff tested positive.

Wallis and Futuna
On 16 October, the collectivity reported its first case. On 23 October a second test on the first case returned a negative result, making the collectivity again COVID-free.

Marshall Islands
On 24 January, the Marshall Islands issued a travel advisory that requires any visitors to the country to have spent at least 14 days in a country free of the virus. On 1 March, the ban was extended to China, Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Iran.

As of 18 March, all incoming international travel has been temporarily suspended, as well as some intra-island flight services.

As of 28 October, The first two positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed at US Army Garrison on Kwajalein Atoll (USAG-KA) in the Marshall Islands.

New Zealand
New Zealand reported its first case on 28 February 2020 from a citizen who had arrived from Iran on 26 February. The second case was a citizen who had recently traveled to northern Italy. The first local transmission of the virus happened on 4 March in Auckland. On 29 March, New Zealand reported its first fatality, a woman in her 70s from the West Coast region.

The New Zealand Government introduced a four-level alert system on 21 March to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. On 25 March, the country moved into Alert Level 4, placing the country in a nationwide lockdown and closing its borders. While mass gatherings were banned and schools and most businesses were closed, essential services such as supermarkets, petrol stations, and health services remained open. Due to successful efforts to eliminate the pandemic within New Zealand's borders, the alert level system was progressively lowered to Level 3 on 27 April and Level 2 on 13 May, with lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures being eased at each stage. On 9 June, New Zealand entered into Alert level 1, where remaining restrictions on economic activities and daily life were eliminated but the country's borders remained closed to most international travellers.

On 4 May, the country marked the first day without the reports of any new case of COVID-19, a month after the country announced lockdown. By 31 May, there was only one active case with a total of 1,504 (1,154 confirmed and 350 probable) cases, 1,481 recoveries, and 22 deaths. By 8 June, that last active case had recovered. Following 24 consecutive days of no new cases, two new cases resulting from overseas travel were reported on 16 June. On 11 August, four cases were reported in Auckland, making the first reported community transmissions after 102 days.

As of 20 December, New Zealand has reported 2,116 cases (1,760 confirmed and 356 probable cases), with 55 active cases. In addition, 2,036 people have recovered and 25 people have died. As of 20 December, no cases have been reported in the associated states of Cook Islands and Niue and the dependent territories of Tokelau and the Ross Dependency (see below).

Cook Islands
As of 28 March, the Cook Islands have not had any cases. As a precautionary measure, flights from destinations other than New Zealand have been cancelled, and non-essential surgeries cancelled. On 26 March, Prime Minister Henry Puna announced that 'Code Yellow' measures would be in place in the islands, by which public gatherings are restricted. On 15 August, the Government has temporarily closed its air borders to any travellers in response to the re-emerging of COVID-19 cases in Auckland, New Zealand.

Niue
As of 3 April 2020, there have been no cases in Niue. As a precautionary measure, the government has banned visitors from highly affected countries.

Tokelau
As of 3 April 2020, there have been no cases in Tokelau. As a precautionary measure, boats arriving from affected countries have been banned from landing. On 19 March, all incoming travel was suspended, except for Tokelauans.

Papua New Guinea
On 20 March, the first case in Papua New Guinea was confirmed.

Swabs were taken and sent to the Medical Research Institute in Goroka for testing. Three announcements followed. First the Health Minister Jelta Wong declared a probable case, and Prime Minister James Marape followed up by declaring the result as negative. Further tests were conducted and the prime minister confirmed the positive result for COVID-19. Police Minister Bryan Kramer then stated on Facebook that the inconsistent results were due to faulty test equipment, and that requests had been made for further testing to be conducted in Melbourne. As of 19 November 2020, Papua New Guinea had 602 cases, 585 recoveries and 7 deaths.

Bougainville
The Autonomous Region of Bougainville's confirmed its first case of the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday, 7 August 2020, in Arawa, Bougainville.

Samoa
There is one confirmed COVID-19 cases in Samoa that was confirmed in November 2020.

Solomon Islands
The first case of COVID-19 in the Solomon Islands was confirmed on 3 October 2020.

United States
While the epicenter of COVID-19 in the USA lies in the contiguous 48 states, cases and outbreaks have been reported in the country's Oceanic jurisdictions. The state of Hawaii has by far the most coronavirus cases in the region, followed up by the territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

American Samoa
On 9 November 2020, American Samoa reported its first three cases.

Guam
As of 28 August, the US territory of Guam has had 1,287 confirmed cases of the virus, 488 recoveries, and ten deaths.

Hawaii
As of 30 October, the US state of Hawaii had 15,003 cases, 216 deaths and 11,738 recoveries. The first case was reported on 6 March, and the first death was on 30 March.

In response to the initial spike in coronavirus cases, Governor David Ige issued a state-wide lockdown, which lasted from 24 March to 30 April. After another spike occurred a few months later, a second lockdown was issued from 27 August to 9 September. It was then extended until 24 September.

The center of the outbreak is on the island of Oahu, where most Hawaii residents live. Cases have also been reported on Hawaii Island, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kauai. No cases have been reported on Niʻihau.

Northern Mariana Islands
As of 2 November, the islands confirmed 96 coronavirus cases and two deaths.

Vanuatu
On 11 November Vanuatu recorded its first COVID case by a man who tested positive after returning from the United States via Auckland and Sydney.

Kiribati
On 1 February, the government of Kiribati put all visas from China on hold and required new arrivals to fill in a health form and travellers from countries with the coronavirus to go through a self-quarantine period. Despite not having any cases, on 28 March President Taneti Maamau declared a state of emergency.

On 10 September, the government announced it will keep the borders closed until the end of the year to keep the country free of the virus. Some exceptions will be made, including repatriations, humanitarian flights and the transport of essential supplies into the country. A group of 20 I-Kiribati people in the Marshall Islands are the first set to be repatriated.

Micronesia
By 3 February, David W. Panuelo, President of the Federated States of Micronesia, had signed a declaration banning Micronesian citizens from travelling to China and other affected countries.

By 5 March, Micronesia had introduced a strict travel ban, banning anyone who had been in China anytime since January 2020 – or had been in any other affected country in the last 14 days – from entering Micronesia. As of 18 March, all schools in the country have also been closed.

Nauru
As of 6 July, there have been no cases. The government has, however, declared a national emergency as a preventive measure, suspending all but one weekly flight to the country and instituting a 14-day quarantine for all arrivals.

Palau
The President of Palau Thomas Remengesau Jr. issued an executive order suspending all charter flights from China, Macau, and Hong Kong from 1–29 February. Schools were also shut starting in April. Remengesau eventually suspended travel to Palau.

The order also quarantined all non-citizens who recently entered the country for fourteen days.

Tonga
As of 22 May 2020, there have been no cases in the country. As a precautionary measure, various travel and quarantining restrictions have been put in place. Cruise ships and yachts have also been banned from docking in the country. On 27 March Prime Minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa announced that the country would be under a lock-down 29 March – 5 April.

Tuvalu
As of 3 April 2020, there have been no cases in the country. As a precautionary measure, visitors will not be allowed to land without first undergoing 14 days of isolation in a third party state. Circa 26 March the acting governor general declared a state of emergency.

Pitcairn Islands
As of 3 April, there have been no cases in the Pitcairn Islands. As a precautionary measure, all passenger services to the islands have been suspended.

Total confirmed (and probable) cases by country
Daily cases for the most infected Oceania countries: