Pacific news in brief for 24 June
SCIEPRO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Six new cases of dengue fever have been reported in Tonga, bringing the total to 879 as of Monday.
More than half of the confirmed cases are on the main island, Tongatapu.
One person is in Niueiki Hospital in stable condition.
A dengue outbreak was declared in Tonga in February, with three dengue-related deaths recorded.
Tonga's Prime Minister 'Aisake Eke says he is "seriously alarmed" that the nation is reportedly included in the United States' proposed expansion of travel restrictions.
Dr Eke told
Matangi Tonga
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working with the US Consulate in Nuku'alofa to formulate a response to the US government.
Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are said to be included in an extended list of 36 extra countries that the Trump administration is considering banning on entering the US, according to an internal State Department cable seen by
Reuters.
Fijian men are being urged to seek help for mental health problems after a police officer died following a dispute with his wife.
Fijivillage.com
reported that the officer was a member of the police boxing team and had represented the force at last year's Sukuna Bowl, an annual rugby union fixture in Suva.
The rugby team's coach described him as kind, disciplined and an inspiration to many.
He has reportedly called for men struggling with personal issues to contact Empower Pacific on 5626 or Lifeline Fiji on 1543.
Biologists have discovered seven news species of freshwater lobster in Indonesia's West Papua region.
Their findings are the result of biodiversity research by Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in collaboration with independent researchers from Germany.
Dr Rury Eprilurahman, one of the university's research authors, said the new species were discovered in remote freshwater ecosystems with minimal human activity.
He said researchers looked at body shape and colour to confirm these were truly distinct species.
A Fijian cabinet minister says two-thirds of the children in Fiji's orphanages are from Indo-Fijian communities.
The Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, Sashi Kiran told a radio show in Suva that this is a serious issue that continues to be ignored.
Kiran told
Radio Sargam
that homelessness, drug use, violence and HIV in the indo-Fijian community is under-reported, compared to iTaukei or indigenous children.
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RNZ News
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Another child dies from dengue in Samoa - more than 2200 cases since January
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RNZ News
22-07-2025
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'Biggest number we've had': Pacific dengue cases highest in a decade
The Asian tiger mosquito is one of the vectors responsible for transmitting dengue fever. Photo: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Dengue cases in the Pacific are at their highest since 2016, with nearly 19,000 people affected, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says. The new figures come as multiple nations in the region grapple with outbreaks and surging case numbers. Just last week, Samoa confirmed a second child with the disease had died this year. Overall, nine dengue-related deaths have been reported across the region. WHO's Pacific Techincal Support director Dr Mark Jacobs told Pacific Waves that July regional data showed the number of suspected dengue cases was at 18,766 - the highest since 2016. "We've been seeing a gradual increase in dengue in the Pacific for at least the last couple of decades. But looking at the last 10 years, what we tend to see is peaks in some years and then lower levels in other years. "This year, so far, we're up to two more than 18,000 suspected cases of dengue….that's the biggest number that we've had certainly in the last 10 years. Of those, 12,040 were laboratory-confirmed cases. Jacobs said the high case numbers were due to a range of factors, including the movement of people between Pacific nations. "The virus that causes dengue fever basically lives in people and lives in mosquitoes. And so for a lot of the…smaller Pacific countries, they haven't got enough people for the virus to keep on circulating all the time. "What tends to happen in those…Pacific countries is, if there's an outbreak somewhere else in the Pacific, or somewhere where there's people moving to and from, someone might come into that country from another country [where] they've already been infected…and bring the virus back." Climate change and shifting weather patterns in the region also increased the risk around dengue spread, he said. The lack of understanding around dengue hot-spots was another risk factor. "It's actually most common in urban settings and semi-urban settings, so towns and villages where there's quite a few people living. [That's where] the mosquito is very comfortable living - in and around people's houses." A breakdown of the WHO July data, showed spread of the disease had been highest in Fiji, which had 13,702 suspected cases, followed by Tonga (2087) and French Polynesia or Mā'ohi Nui (1079). The data also showed numbers appeared to have peaked in March. However, in recent months, there had been a resurgence in spread of the virus. In particular, it had been found in previously unaffected nations like American Sāmoa, Nauru and Tuvalu. Jacobs said the four different strains of dengue also added to challenges around preventing spread and illness. This was because immunity to dengue was generally dependent on individual strains. "If you've been infected in the past with type one dengue, then you're unlikely to get that sort of dengue again," he said. "But if…a different strain of the of the dengue virus comes into the country some years later - dengue type two for instance - then all the people who've been infected with type one before, who've been protected against getting type one again, they could all get type two." Jacobs said that transmission pattern often triggered big outbreaks. It also contributed to more severe illness from dengue. "If somebody's had dengue more than once, in other words, if they've had it with a couple of the different strains a few years apart, they're the people most likely to get really, really severely ill with dengue. "And so we see more of the severe dengue, more complications of dengue in those people." In Samoa, the acting director-general of health Tagaloa Dr Robert Thomsen said the government was prioritising mosquito spraying of areas and buildings where people gathered in its response. These included schools and sites like the Victim Support centre and National University of Sāmoa, he said. Tangaloa confirmed the recent dengue-related death was an eight-year-old girl. She died on Sunday 13 July. Misiafa Lene, 12, died in April after contracting dengue. As of 13 July, the number of laboratory-confirmed dengue cases was 1276 in Samoa. "For the past three weeks - excluding this week - we've seen an increase of about 100 confirmed cases per week," Tagaloa said. "Our biggest challenge at the moment…is the paediatric age group - children below 15 years of age. [They] appear to be the ones that are mostly affected."
