There are only a handful of places that have not reported cases of COVID-19. Many of them are in the Pacific. American Samoa, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Pitcairn Island, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna are still virus-free.
As early as January, the Pacific started to step up efforts to prepare for COVID-19, with support from WHO. Cases started to be reported from mid-March in Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands and Papua New Guinea.
None of the countries and areas in the Pacific is complacent. Tokelau Training on Infection Prevention in Tokelau, March 16, 2020 Dr Durgavasini Devanath, of WHO,