Kia Orana
Te Marae Ora (TMO) wishes to provide the following update:
The Cook Islands remains COVID-19 free.
Alert Level 2 has been extended to 11.59pm Monday 30th August 2021.
While Air New Zealand flights have been flying into Rarotonga, they have not carried any inwards passengers since Monday 16th August.
Meanwhile over 2600 passengers have left since 16th August.
A Ministerial Order that requires flights, and maritime travel to the Pa Enua to be cargo (and crew) only flights/sailings, with returning flights able to transport passengers and cargo to Rarotonga remains in place.
This same Ministerial Order (which expires at 11.59 on Monday 30th August) requires all indoor or outdoor events and social gatherings, whether in a private or public setting to be restricted to a maximum of 100 people. For larger events (over 100 people) an exemption must be obtained from the Secretary of Health. All events at which 25-100 people will be in attendance must be registered with Te Marae Ora.
Also, all indoor and outdoor events at which 25 persons or more are in attendance, must have contact tracing facilities such as a CookSafe tag in station or a manual register of attendees’ names, times of attendance and contact details. Any manual contact tracing register must be maintained by the event organiser for at least 14 days and produced to Te Marae Ora on request. Te Marae Ora encourages everyone to tag in or fill-in a manual registration form wherever possible.
Testing locations were operating in Rarotonga today.
Tomorrow, drive-through testing locations at Te Marae Ora in Tupapa, in Muri and at Constitution Park will be operating between 9am and 4pm.
Te Marae Ora would like all passengers who arrived in the Cook Islands between 2-16 August 2021 and have not already done so to get a COVID-19 test. For those who arrived 15-16 August and have already been tested a second test is required.
Please remember, if you get tested, you are required to self-isolate until you get a negative test result. And also, a reminder for those flying to Auckland, New Zealand’s border order prohibits travel while awaiting the result of a COVID test.
Over the last eight days, 2448 swabs have been taken, 2375 have been processed as at 4.30pm this afternoon, all returning negative results, the remaining 73 tests are pending.
ENDS: For more information, please visit www.health,gov.ck or contact Jaewynn McKay; jaewynn.mckay@cookislands.gov.ck +682 55486