Berliner Boersenzeitung - Covid-hit Australian warship delivers disaster aid to Tonga

EUR -
AED 3.82663
AFN 70.961809
ALL 98.138672
AMD 405.653176
ANG 1.877183
AOA 951.190967
ARS 1044.167695
AUD 1.599646
AWG 1.877898
AZN 1.768925
BAM 1.955574
BBD 2.102957
BDT 124.465633
BGN 1.955296
BHD 0.392555
BIF 3076.644867
BMD 1.04183
BND 1.403838
BOB 7.197169
BRL 6.043616
BSD 1.04158
BTN 87.914552
BWP 14.229358
BYN 3.408607
BYR 20419.862965
BZD 2.099458
CAD 1.456197
CDF 2991.093261
CHF 0.930624
CLF 0.036923
CLP 1018.831698
CNY 7.545955
CNH 7.559141
COP 4573.372102
CRC 530.538761
CUC 1.04183
CUP 27.608488
CVE 110.252274
CZK 25.306722
DJF 185.47859
DKK 7.457725
DOP 62.772754
DZD 139.835859
EGP 51.650195
ERN 15.627446
ETB 127.508482
FJD 2.371152
FKP 0.822334
GBP 0.831137
GEL 2.854575
GGP 0.822334
GHS 16.4561
GIP 0.822334
GMD 73.969495
GNF 8977.963687
GTQ 8.040072
GYD 217.904848
HKD 8.10981
HNL 26.320962
HRK 7.431641
HTG 136.724218
HUF 410.920048
IDR 16610.464601
ILS 3.856615
IMP 0.822334
INR 87.968197
IQD 1364.442504
IRR 43834.985936
ISK 145.522363
JEP 0.822334
JMD 165.930847
JOD 0.738756
JPY 161.24407
KES 134.88443
KGS 90.11281
KHR 4193.515949
KMF 492.261294
KPW 937.646374
KRW 1463.260366
KWD 0.320727
KYD 0.868
KZT 520.05997
LAK 22878.359185
LBP 93271.23384
LKR 303.145008
LRD 187.9983
LSL 18.79533
LTL 3.076253
LVL 0.630192
LYD 5.086413
MAD 10.478091
MDL 18.997807
MGA 4861.438851
MKD 61.522899
MMK 3383.822366
MNT 3540.137411
MOP 8.350936
MRU 41.443216
MUR 48.810137
MVR 16.1068
MWK 1806.091526
MXN 21.300719
MYR 4.654898
MZN 66.582998
NAD 18.79533
NGN 1767.669283
NIO 38.325576
NOK 11.541432
NPR 140.663763
NZD 1.785677
OMR 0.400944
PAB 1.04158
PEN 3.949544
PGK 4.193516
PHP 61.40439
PKR 289.239713
PLN 4.332887
PYG 8131.061444
QAR 3.798562
RON 4.980248
RSD 116.991496
RUB 108.510536
RWF 1421.83588
SAR 3.911475
SBD 8.734237
SCR 14.271984
SDG 626.658476
SEK 11.49581
SGD 1.402926
SHP 0.822334
SLE 23.680862
SLL 21846.653733
SOS 595.231293
SRD 36.978666
STD 21563.772237
SVC 9.113948
SYP 2617.628337
SZL 18.788831
THB 36.0395
TJS 11.09252
TMT 3.646404
TND 3.309018
TOP 2.440069
TRY 35.958741
TTD 7.074183
TWD 33.946456
TZS 2770.580196
UAH 43.090026
UGX 3848.555767
USD 1.04183
UYU 44.294887
UZS 13362.457591
VES 48.506696
VND 26482.270241
VUV 123.688121
WST 2.908362
XAF 655.881293
XAG 0.033274
XAU 0.000384
XCD 2.815597
XDR 0.792309
XOF 655.881293
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.379266
ZAR 18.844783
ZMK 9377.714007
ZMW 28.772679
ZWL 335.468752
  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

Covid-hit Australian warship delivers disaster aid to Tonga
Covid-hit Australian warship delivers disaster aid to Tonga

Covid-hit Australian warship delivers disaster aid to Tonga

A coronavirus-hit Australian warship docked in Tonga on Wednesday, delivering desperately needed aid to the volcano-and-tsunami-struck nation under strict "no-contact" protocols.

Text size:

Tongan Health Minister Saia Piukala said the crew of the HMAS Adelaide would follow drastic health protocols to ensure the remote Pacific kingdom remains one of the few places in the world still free of Covid-19.

"The ship will berth and no contacts will be made. Australians from the ship will unload their cargoes and sail from port," he told reporters.

The Adelaide was deployed as part of an international aid effort after the January 15 eruption that generated massive tsunami waves and blanketed the island nation in toxic ash.

The warship is carrying about 80 tonnes of relief supplies, including water, medical kits and engineering equipment.

Despite all crew members testing negative before departing Brisbane, officials in Canberra on Tuesday said 23 coronavirus cases had been detected on the vessel.

Piukala said that number had increased to 29 by Wednesday.

The ship's 600-plus crew are fully vaccinated, and the Australian Defence Force said Tuesday that the initial 23 patients were asymptomatic or only mildly affected.

It said the ship has a 40-bed hospital, including operating theatres and a critical care ward.

- Villages washed away -

Piukala said contactless protocols were being applied to all relief supplies, including those aboard the HMAS Adelaide, meaning all goods offloaded from foreign planes or ships would be left in isolation for three days before being handled by Tongans.

The ship is said to be loaded with about 250,000 litres (66,000 US gallons) of water, buckets, jerry cans and portable field-testing kits that can now be offloaded.

"We can do that in a contactless way, spray the equipment so that the chance of passing on the virus is obviously negligible," Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Tuesday.

"Under no circumstance will we compromise the health and well-being of those Tongans who have already had a concerted effort against the virus by protecting themselves, and the virus is not present on the island."

But coronavirus restrictions are already hampering the aid effort in other ways.

Japan has announced its aid aircraft will pause trips between Australia and Tonga due to four Covid-19 cases among the mission's staff.

"We are making sure that the impact on the mission is minimal, and once our review of anti-infection measures is completed, we'll continue the mission," a defence ministry official told AFP.

Tonga closed its borders in early 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe.

Since then, the nation of 100,000 has recorded just one Covid-19 case, a man who returned from New Zealand in October last year and has since fully recovered.

However, the devastating blast from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which lies about 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of the capital Nuku'alofa, has created what the Tongan government describes as an "unprecedented disaster".

Entire villages were washed away by tsunamis, while ash has poisoned water supplies and destroyed crops.

Remarkably, there have been only three reported fatalities, which the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said was thanks to effective early warnings issued by the Tongan government.

OCHA said communications severed by the eruption were slowly being restored and assessment teams were visiting hard-to-reach areas to gauge the full scale of the disaster.

It said 85 percent of Tonga's population had been affected, with access to safe water, ash clearance and food supplies the main priorities.

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)