Tonga recorded its first-ever COVID-19 case as Pacific charts pandemic recovery

The main island of Tonga has gone into a week-long lockdown after the South Pacific nation reported its very first COVID-19 case of the pandemic late last week. The COVID-positive traveler, who is fully vaccinated and was showing no symptoms, arrived in Tonga last Wednesday on a flight from Christchurch, New Zealand. All 214 others aboard the flight have tested negative and the infected traveler, a young missionary, is currently quarantined in a facility. 'So far, we're very happy that nothing else has happened besides that one case,' Dr. Viliami Puloka told NPR from his home in Nuku'alofa, the capital of Tonga. The retired general practitioner and public health specialist said it was just a matter of time before the virus reached them.