covid-19 pandemic in oceania covid-19 pandemic in oceania the covid-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached oceania on 25 january 2020 with the first confirmed case reported in melbourne, australia. the virus has spread to all sovereign states and territories in the region. australia and new zealand were praised for their handling of the pandemic in comparison to other western nations, with new zealand and each state in australia wiping out all community transmission of the virus several times even after re-introduction in the community. covid-19 pandemic in oceaniamap of the covid-19 pandemic in oceania (as of 22 july 2022) 1,000,000+ confirmed cases 100,000–999,999 confirmed cases 10,000-99,999 confirmed cases 1,000–9,999 confirmed cases 100–999 confirmed cases 10–99 confirmed cases 1–9 confirmed casesdiseasecovid-19virus strainsars-cov-2locationoceaniafirst outbreakwuhan, hubei, chinaindex casemelbourne, australiaarrival date25 january 2020(3 years, 3 months, 2 weeks and 4 days ago)confirmed cases≈ 11,313,230 (as of 24 july 2022)recovered10,417,291 (as of 24 july 2022) (partially reported)deaths≈ 17,740 (as of 24 july 2022)territories28 part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicscientifically accurate atomic model of the external structure of sars-cov-2. each "ball" is an atom. covid-19 (disease) sars-cov-2 (virus) cases deaths timeline 2019 2020 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2021 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2022 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november december 2023 january february march april may locations by country and territory africa antarctica asia europe north america oceania south america by conveyance cruise ships naval ships international response endemic phase evacuations face masks international aid investigations into origin lockdowns by country misinformation by governments fake treatments social distancing software travel united nations world health organization wto ip waiver undercounting of deaths covid-19 apps zero-covid national responses africa china european union germany ghana india ireland netherlands new zealand nigeria philippines russia sweden uk government us federal government vietnam medical response disease testing breathalyzer development drug development drug repurposing public health mitigation vaccines history research vitt deployment authorizations operation warp speed misinformation and hesitancy us vaccine card vaccine passports current vaccines coronavac covaxin convidecia janssen medigen moderna novavax oxford–astrazeneca pfizer–biontech sinopharm bibp sputnik v variants variants of concern alpha beta gamma delta omicron other variants epsilon zeta eta theta iota kappa lambda mu cluster 5 lineage b.1.617 economic impact and recession arts and culture aviation cannabis cinema films disney fashion financial markets food industry food security journalism music performing arts retail shipping television us sportscasting programs tourism video games by country canada india ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us by sport association football baseball basketball combat sports cricket disc golf gaelic games gridiron football ice hockey motorsport rugby league impacts animals black people crime death rates by country disability domestic violence emergency evacuations education female environment hospitals language lgbt community long-term care media coverage mental health symptoms migration military notable deaths other health issues politics diplomacy popular culture protests pregnancy prisons religion catholic church hajj science and technology social media strikes suicides telehealth xenophobia and racism society ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us covid-19 portal as a result of the high transmissibility of the delta variant however, by august 2021, the australian states of new south wales and victoria had conceded defeat in their eradication efforts. in early october 2021, new zealand also abandoned its elimination strategy. statistics by country and territory summary table of confirmed cases in oceania (as of 8 may 2023) country/territory total cases deaths recoveries ref australia 11,210,651 20,119 no data new zealand 2,336,352 2,792 2,321,339 hawaii 387,419 1,892 no data new caledonia 80,058 314 no data french polynesia 78,488 649 no data fiji 68,918 883 66,307 guam 51,179 413 no data papua new guinea 46,842 670 46,168 micronesia 26,080 64 no data solomon islands 24,575 153 no data tonga 16,814 12 no data samoa 16,737 31 no data marshall islands 16,081 17 no data northern mariana islands 13,839 41 no data vanuatu 12,014 14 no data american samoa 8,329 34 no data cook islands 7,067 2 7,060 palau 5,999 9 no data nauru 5,393 1 no data kiribati 5,025 24 no data wallis and futuna 3,427 7 438 tuvalu 2,805 0 466 easter island 1,751 0 1,745 bougainville 1,202 19 no data norfolk island 1,051 0 1,039 niue 801 0 801 tokelau 5 0 0 pitcairn islands 4 0 0 total 13,432,922 22,475 12,230,202 note: the statistical information in this table may vary from official reports and who data, and is known to inconsistently include historical and suspected cases which may have returned a positive diagnostic test result. in some cases, these positive test results were reported by the media and/or by the relevant health authorities as confirmed cases, but this is not necessarily indicative of active sars-cov-2 infection due to most covid-19 tests analysing past presence of the virus through the detection of relevant antibodies or through the detection of one or more viral fragments which are slowly shed during or after a person's recovery. these viral fragments are not indicative of whether that person has a current presence of the virus and are not indicative of infectivity. timeline by country and territory australia main article: covid-19 pandemic in australiaon 19 january 2020, australia's chief health officer, brendan murphy said that while the spike in numbers needed to be cautiously observed, there was "no cause for alarm in australia" at the momentmap of the outbreak in australia 1,000,000+ confirmed cases 100,000–999,999 confirmed cases 10,000–99,999 confirmed cases 100–9,999 confirmed cases on 25 january 2020, the first case of a sars-cov-2 infection was reported, that of a chinese citizen who arrived from guangzhou on 19 january. the patient received treatment in melbourne. on the same day, three other patients tested positive in sydney after returning from wuhan. on 1 march 2020, a 78-year-old man from western australia, who had been a passenger on the cruise ship diamond princess, became the first person to die from coronavirus in australia. he died in a hospital in perth. australian borders were closed to all non-residents from 20 march 2020; all returning travellers are required to undergo two weeks' quarantine in hotels. from march onwards, many states and territories also closed their internal borders, with similar quarantine requirements for exempt travellers. a breach of quarantine in melbourne hotels led to the state of victoria experiencing a second wave and returning to strict lockdown measures from july through to october 2020. no deaths from covid-19 were recorded in australia from 28 december 2020 until 13 april 2021, when an overseas returned traveller died at the prince charles hospital, brisbane. there were then none until 11 july, when nsw health reported a covid-19 death from the nsw delta outbreak. in late august 2021, victoria also reported its first deaths since the end of the outbreak in june 2020 that saw the longest lockdown period in australia at the time. in response to rising cases, both new south wales and victoria underwent extended lockdowns, taking 107 and 77 days respectively, with both states opening up in october 2021. during this time, other australian states closed their borders to these two states. beginning in december 2021, australia has experienced a major outbreak of the omicron variant, with significantly higher case numbers than at any other time of the pandemic. as of 22 april 2022, australia has reported 5,374,402 cases and 6,893 deaths. at the time of writing, there are an estimated 370,228 active cases in australia. norfolk island main article: covid-19 pandemic in norfolk island in march 2020, as a precautionary measure, the norfolk island regional council imposed a 32-day travel ban and declared a state of emergency. administrator eric hutchinson stated that the measures were necessary due to the remote island's extremely limited health capacity. lockdown measures began to be lifted from 6 may 2020. following outbreaks in the australian eastern states and territories in mid-2021, norfolk islands implemented further restrictions. covid support packages are available for norfolk island businesses and residents. norfolk island has begun administering covid-19 vaccinations and is expected to complete its initial vaccination rollout by october 2021. as of 2 august, over 60% of residents have received their first jab. due to the accelerated rollout of the comirnaty (pfizer) covid-19 vaccine and low levels of vaccine hesitancy in norfolk island, the region's covid-19 vaccination clinic is currently slated to be closed on 31 september. on 30 december 2021, two positive cases were reported. four other cases were identified on 1 january 2022. chile main article: covid-19 pandemic in chile easter island main article: covid-19 pandemic in easter island on 19 march 2020, the local government of easter island ordered a lockdown of the island and requested latam airlines to evacuate all tourists on the island. however, on 24 march, the first case of coronavirus was reported on the island. by the start of april, 5 confirmed cases had been reported. all cases have recovered after some weeks and no new cases have been reported since. fiji map of the outbreak in fiji by region 150+ confirmed cases 101-150 confirmed cases 51-100 confirmed cases 11-50 confirmed cases 1-10 confirmed cases the first case of the disease in fiji was reported on 19 march 2020, leading to the lockdowns of fiji's two largest cities, lautoka and suva for over twenty days. on 31 july 2020, fiji recorded its first death from covid-19, a 66-year-old man who was repatriated from india. after over 365 days of no new cases in the community, fiji recorded a new community case on 19 april 2021 leading to the immediate lockdown of nadi and a second lockdown for lautoka. this lockdown lasted almost fifty days and ended on 5 june 2021 despite covid-19 cases still growing in the community. a similar lockdown was also introduced in the central division which contained suva, lami and nausori in a single large containment area. the lockdown for the lami-nausori containment remains in place as of date. by 20 august 2021, fiji had confirmed 43,096 cases of covid-19 with 21,825 recoveries and 432 deaths (plus 247 other unrelated covid-19 positive patients deaths). as of 24 august 2021, fiji had reported 44,188 confirmed cases of covid-19 with 444 deaths to who; and as of 13 august 2021, a total of 690,888 vaccine doses having been administered. france further information: covid-19 pandemic in france french polynesia main article: covid-19 pandemic in french polynesia on 11 march 2020, the first case in french polynesia was confirmed. the first patient was maina sage, a member of the french national assembly. there were 39 confirmed cases on 4 april. a ban on sales of alcohol was extended until the crisis is over. by 11 november 2020, 11,316 cases and more than 4,842 recoveries had been reported in french polynesia. as of 12 august 2021, a total of 137,967 vaccine doses have been administered. as of 24 august 2021, there have been 40,178 confirmed cases and 328 deaths. new caledonia as of 18 july 2020, there were 22 cases in new caledonia. president thierry santa went into self-isolation on 4 april after a member of his staff tested positive. on 7 march 2021, the first nine locally transmitted cases were reported. wallis and futuna main article: covid-19 pandemic in wallis and futuna map of the outbreak in wallis and futuna by islands 150+ confirmed cases 100–150 confirmed cases 50–100 confirmed cases 1–50 confirmed cases on 16 october 2020, the collectivity reported its first case. on 23 october, a second test on the first case returned a negative result, making the collectivity again covid-free. a local community outbreak began on 6 march 2021, and the number of cases has since risen to 302 by 20 march. the first death was reported on 22 march. kiribati main article: covid-19 pandemic in kiribati on 1 february 2020, the government of kiribati put all visas from china on hold and required new arrivals to fill in a health form and travellers from countries with the coronavirus to go through a self-quarantine period. despite not having any cases, on 28 march president taneti maamau declared a state of