Biodun.BBC: Hawaii

Saturday, March 14, 2020

BREAKING: Coronavirus: Quebec leader asks seniors to stay in, 'snowbirds' to fly back to Canada

Issued on: 14/03/2020 - 21:04Modified: 15/03/2020 - 01:03 GMT/ZULU

ADVERTISING

Ottawa

by Kathy DiNuzzo and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

Quebec's premier told seniors Saturday to stay home to avoid contracting the new coronavirus, and urged "snowbirds" -- retired Canadians who spend winters in sunny US states -- to fly back to Canada now.

"The elderly are much more at risk of serious consequences. As a society, we have to do everything to protect older people," Premier Francois Legault told a news conference.

ADVERTISING

His administration declared a public health emergency a day after Ottawa announced aggressive new measures and money to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus, including asking Canadians to avoid all but essential foreign travel.

The federal government, however, has so far resisted growing calls to limit incoming travelers after the United States banned flights from Europe.

"If I were them, I'd come home as soon as possible," Legault also said about more than 300,000 Canadian "snowbirds" who live up to six months each year in the United States. He said they risked being stranded as fewer international flights are likely to be available in coming weeks.

Florida, California, Arizona, Hawaii, and Texas are the most popular US destinations for Canadian "snowbirds."

As of 1300 GMT Saturday, said Health Canada, 193 cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed in Canada, including one death.

Quebec, with 21 cases but 853 people under investigation, has taken among the strongest measures in the country to try to prevent the spread of the illness, as of Saturday closing schools, banning visits to hospitals and seniors residences, and asking all persons over 70 to stay home.

Other Canadian political leaders, meanwhile, urged against panic shopping and hoarding as Canadians rushed to empty store shelves of groceries, toilet paper, and over the counter cold and flu medicines.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Issued on: 13/03/2020 - 01:20Modified: 13/03/2020 - 02:19 GMT/ZULU

ADVERTISING

Wellington

by Louise Healy and Biodun Iginla, France24

New Zealand cancelled one of the Pacific's largest cultural festivals on Friday, saying there was too much risk of attendees contracting coronavirus then spreading it throughout vulnerable island nations.

Auckland's annual Pasifika Festival normally attracts more than 60,000 people from across the region and is billed as the biggest Polynesian celebration in the world.

ADVERTISING

But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she feared allowing it to proceed could lead to an outbreak similar to the measles epidemic in Samoa late last year that killed 83 people, mostly babies and toddlers.

"New Zealand has a responsibility, as the gateway to the Pacific, to do what we can to prevent any chance of transmission into the Pacific," she told reporters.

"Because of the ability of their health system to cope with cases, it would be hugely damaging -- we've already seen what happened with measles."

A combination of geographic isolation and under-resourced health infrastructure makes containing outbreaks particularly difficult in the Pacific islands.

Ardern said the festival, due to be held this weekend, would have brought together people from the islands who would have then returned home, potentially dispersing the virus.

"That was a risk there was no appetite for," she said.

New Zealand, most notably Auckland, serves as a hub for Pacific islanders and some epidemiologists criticised New Zealand for not doing enough over the measles outbreak to contain the illness.

French Polynesia recorded the South Pacific's first confirmed case of coronavirus on Thursday when it was revealed parliamentarian Maina Sage had tested positive.

There have been two confirmed cases of the virus in the US state of Hawaii but no others on Pacific islands, with suspected cases in the Marshall Islands, Fiji, Tonga and Palau all testing negative.

New Zealand has had just five confirmed cases and no fatalities.