Weak infrastructure among issues faced by virus-hit Pacific island states

The remote island of Kadavu is a narrow volcanic island in southern Fiji that has few roads and just 10,000 residents scattered across coastal villages.

Despite its solitude, Kadavu recorded its first apparent case of Covid-19 earlier this month - a 63-year-old woman from a small village who died before she could reach the local hospital.

The case highlights the challenge facing Fiji, a Pacific nation that is in the grip of one of the world's worst Covid-19 outbreaks. It reported a further 184 cases and 10 deaths yesterday. Since the current outbreak began in April, about 5 per cent of the nation's 940,000 residents - or 46,141 people - have been infected, with 477 deaths.

The small island nations of the Pacific are some of the most susceptible countries to pandemics.

The Spanish flu, for instance, killed about 22 per cent of Western Samoa's population. In Fiji, a measles outbreak in 1875 killed about a quarter of the population.

Not surprisingly, most Pacific nations were quick to shut their borders when Covid-19 emerged last year.

The World Health Organisation has warned that Pacific island nations are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 outbreaks, due to their weak public health systems and the difficulties of reaching and contacting remote populations.

The region's rates of underlying health problems such as diabetes and obesity are also among the highest in the world.

French Polynesia is in the midst of a disastrous Covid-19 outbreak. In recent days, the territory, with a population of almost 300,000 has been recording about 1,000 daily cases. It has registered more than 40,000 cases, over 10 per cent of the population. Most cases occurred after it reopened to tourists last year.

Fiji, also a popular tourism spot, has been more cautious about allowing international visitors to enter. Its current outbreak is believed to have started with an infected traveller returning from India.

The Fijian government has been reluctant, however, to impose lockdowns due to the economic and social costs. But it has imposed regional curfews as well as banned travelling between regions.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has also declared a "no jabs, no jobs" policy, requiring workers to be vaccinated by Oct 31 or risk dismissal.

"It does not matter if you are the CEO of a company, a sole trader, or a salaried employee - you must be vaccinated to continue working," he said in a statement last month.

The coronavirus pandemic has been an economic disaster for Pacific island nations. A report last week by ANZ Bank said their tourism-dependent economies were "decimated" last year.

"Pacific island governments with limited resources do not have the fiscal firepower to run large stimulus programmes like the developed world," the report said.

Analysts believe their best hope is to vaccinate their populations quickly. Despite the logistical difficulties of delivering vaccines to populations spread across remote islands and atolls, vaccination rates have been increasing.

Fiji has vaccinated about 45 per cent of its eligible population.

Palau recently declared it had achieved herd immunity after 80 per cent of its eligible residents were fully vaccinated.

More than 65 per cent of those aged 12 to 17 have also received at least one vaccine dose.

Meanwhile, Nauru, a tiny nation with fewer than 10,000 residents, claimed in May that it was the first country in the world to have delivered a first dose to all its adults. More than 80 per cent are now believed to be fully vaccinated.

Nauru has yet to record any Covid-19 cases.