The main island of the Tonga archipelago will begin a week-long confinement on Tuesday, after the discovery of its first case of coronavirus.
The archipelago's prime minister, Pohiva Tuionetoa, said the main island, Tongatapu, and its capital Nuku'alofa would be confined until next Tuesday.
He told the press that this measure was aimed at "ensuring the safety of our population (...) in order to prevent or minimize the spread of Covid-19 in the Kingdom of Tonga".
This small Pacific kingdom was until now one of the few countries in the world to have escaped the pandemic.
This first contamination was detected in a person in isolation returning to Tonga after a stay in New Zealand.
Most of the 106,000 people who make up Tonga's population live on the island of Tongatapu, and less than a third have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The infected person had received a second injection of the vaccine in mid-October, according to health officials.
