COVID-19 cases

As Beijing rolled out three rounds of mass testing this week across a number of districts, it locked down a number of residential compounds, office blocks and a university after infections were found while shutting some schools, entertainment venues and tourist sites.

Universal Studios in Beijing announced late on Wednesday it would require visitors to show negative test results before they could enter the theme park, starting on Friday.

This weekend is the first 'Super Round' of the competition where the Australian-based sides which include the Fijian Drua, and the New Zealand-based sides including Moana Pasifika, face off for the first time.

All six matches were scheduled to take place at Melbourne's Rectangular Stadium this weekend, but a rash of Covid-19 cases in the Force squad has led to the postponement of Friday's second fixture.

The city of Shanghai will be locked down in two stages over nine days while authorities carry out Covid-19 testing.

The important financial hub has battled a new wave of infections for nearly a month, although case numbers are not high by some international standards.

Authorities had so far resisted locking down the city of some 25 million people to avoid destabilising the economy.

But after Shanghai recorded its highest daily number of cases on Saturday since the early days of the pandemic, authorities appear to have changed course.

With Vanuatu already out of the tournament in Qatar, Thursday's clash between Solomon Islands and Tahiti in Doha will now act as a single play-off match to determine the winner and runner-up of Group A, with both teams already assured of a spot in the semi-finals.

If the match is level at the end of 90 minutes, extra time will be played followed by penalties if required.

The health authorities say five patients are in hospital.

The number of active cases has almost halved in the past week and is now 662.

More than 80 percent of those 12 years and older have had two jabs.

Pandemic-related restrictions were further relaxed earlier this month by exempting more people from the obligation to be vaccinated.

There is also no longer a need to show a vaccine pass for domestic travel.

Minister Bruno Leingkone said he has discussed this with the Health Directors, Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers (COM).

“I am calling on people residing in Santo, Efate and its offshore islands to prepare, in case we go through a total lockdown,” he said.

Minister Leingkone stressed that the number of COVID-19 cases on Santo and Efate continues to increase because the people are not respecting protocols in place and instructions from the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The tests were conducted prior to the Vanuatu squad departing their team hotel for the stadium.

Vanuatu would not have had enough players to field a team.

OFC is yet to make a statement on the future of the game.

In the other game on the opening day, beaten finalists from the last tournament in 2017, the Solomon Islands beat the Cook Islands 2-0.

New Zealand's opening game is against Papua New Guinea tomorrow.

Photo: Screenshot  Caption: The FIFA World Cup Oceania qualifying match between Tahiti and Vanuatu did not go ahead. 

This takes the tally in the country this year to 473.

All of the additional cases occurred on Efate.

The government is pleading with people to follow the safety protocols.

It has imposed a curfew from 6pm to 6am in all commercial areas, while there is a ban on roadside food stalls and kava bars operating.

Covid-19 outbreaks in the Blues, Highlanders, and Crusaders squads have forced a change in the schedule.

The only game that will be played this weekend is Moana Pasifika against the Chiefs at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland in Saturday night.

The original schedule had the Highlanders playing host to Moana Pasifika in Dunedin, the Blues playing the Crusaders in Christchurch, and the Hurricanes versus the Chiefs in Wellington.

Moana Pasifika have only played one game in their debut season so far - that was against the Crusaders earlier this month.

In a release the Highlanders said they had cancelled today's training session, but at this point there has been no decision made on Friday's game in Dunedin.

They said there had been no change to the rest of their schedule this week.

The Highlanders have managed to play four games so far this season, losing all four of them.

However, another postponed game would be a major setback for Moana Pasifika, who have played just one game so far.

They had two games postponed at the start of the season because of Covid-19 in their camp.