COVID-19

The package, implemented by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, is designed to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 in Vanuatu.

At a signing ceremony witnessed by the executive of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, Minister Koanapo thanked the Australian High Commissioner for Australia’s support.

Bainimarama shared on his official twitter account that although Fiji’s testing numbers are climbing by the day, it’s now been 45 days since the country recorded its last case of coronavirus.

He adds that there have been no COVID-19 deaths and Fiji has recorded a 100% recovery rate through answered prayers, hard work, and affirmation of science.

FBC reports the Prime Minister is expected to make an official announcement later today.

Cricket West Indies said batsmen Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer and all-rounder Keemo Paul declined to travel to England for the tour that is scheduled to start on July 8 behind closed doors, subject to government approval.

CWI also named 11 reserve players who will travel and quarantine with the squad to ensure replacements are readily available in case of injuries.

"The touring party, who will all be tested for COVID-19 this week, are scheduled to fly to England on private charters on June 8," CWI said in a statement.

Its figure of 28,834 has now surpassed France, and only the US, the UK and Italy have recorded more deaths.

President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently played down the outbreak, although the country has the world's second-highest number of cases.

He has criticised state lockdowns for harming Brazil's economy and jobs.

What are the latest figures?

Brazil's health ministry said the past 24 hours had seen 956 new deaths.

Prince Joachim, 28, travelled from Belgium to Spain for an internship on 26 May, the palace said.

Two days later, he went to a party in the southern city of Córdoba, before testing positive for Covid-19.

Spanish reports suggest the prince, a nephew of Belgium's King Philippe, was among 27 people at the party.

Under Córdoba's lockdown rules, a party of this size would be a breach of regulations, as gatherings of no more than 15 people are currently permitted.

In a statement released this afternoon, the Ministry of Health said there were no new cases for the ninth straight day.

The total number of confirmed cases remains at 1154. The combined total of confirmed and probable cases is 1504.

There have been no further deaths.

After a week of no new cases, the number of active cases dropped to one on Friday.

There were 2111 tests carried out yesterday, and 280,983 have now been processed in total.

A ban on travelling more than 100km (60 miles) has also been relaxed, but the bar on gatherings of more than 10 people remains.

"Freedom will become the rule, bans the exception," Mr Philippe said.

More than 28,000 people have died of the virus in France.

On Wednesday the death toll rose by less than 100 for the seventh day in a row.

France will look to reopen borders with other European countries on 15 June, he said.

The SPC's Deputy Director, Audrey Aumua, said the requests for plant tissue, culture materials and vegetable seeds came through its 'Seeds For Life' programme.

This week, Dr Aumua handed over seed kits to the Fiji government in Suva during the launch of the Community's new regional initiatives under its Land Resources Division.

"A total of 166,000 kilogrammes of vegetable seeds and over 10,000 tissue culture seedlings and this request has come from our members," she said. "We are expecting much more."

Seeds For Life

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there are only eight active cases in the country and there is still nobody receiving hospital care for the coronavirus.

The eight active cases include five in Waitematā, two in Auckland, and one in Counties Manukau District Health Boards.

Dr Bloomfield said the death toll now included Eileen Hunter, a resident of St Margaret's rest home who died on Sunday and whose family believed had died of Covid-19, despite her having been considered recovered.

Commissioner David Manning says the move was part of a clean-up to make the constabulary more lean and efficient.

He said the objective was to be a fair and responsible employer and at the same time avoid carrying extra people in the payroll.

Mr Manning said the officers were not attached to any police command but had still been getting paid.

The National newspaper reported that police commanders had been instructed to verify the employment status of 1,000 staff classified as unattached at the end of last year.