Tonga to go into first-ever lockdown after two COVID cases | Al Jazeera

Disaster-hit Tonga will go into lockdown on Wednesday, according to the government, after the country detected its first two community transmissions of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Tonga Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni told an emergency press conference that the lockdown would start at 05:00 GMT, just days after the Pacific island nation received aid from an Australian ship where cases of COVID-19 had been reported on board.

The two cases were among 50 people, who were tested for the virus after handling the aid shipment at the port.