The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Oceania on 25 January 2020 with the first confirmed case reported in Melbourne, Australia. The virus has spread to all sovereign states and territories in the region. Australia and New Zealand were praised for their handling of the pandemic in comparison to other Western nations, with New Zealand and each state in Australia wiping out all community transmission of the virus several times even after re-introduction in the community.
As a result of the high transmissibility of the Delta variant however, by August 2021, the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria had conceded defeat in their eradication efforts. In early October 2021, New Zealand also abandoned its elimination strategy.
Timeline by country and territory
Australia
On 19 January 2020, Australia's Chief Health Officer, Brendan Murphy said that while the spike in numbers needed to be cautiously observed, there was "no cause for alarm in Australia" at the moment
On 25 January 2020, the first case of a SARS-CoV-2 infection was reported, that of a Chinese citizen who arrived from Guangzhou on 19 January. The patient received treatment in Melbourne. On the same day, three other patients tested positive in Sydney after returning from Wuhan.
On 1 March 2020, a 78-year-old man from Western Australia, who had been a passenger on the cruise ship Diamond Princess, became the first person to die from coronavirus in Australia. He died in a hospital in Perth.
Australian borders were closed to all non-residents from 20 March 2020; all returning travellers are required to undergo two weeks' quarantine in hotels. From March onwards, many states and territories also closed their internal borders, with similar quarantine requirements for exempt travellers. A breach of quarantine in hotels across Victoria led to the state experiencing a second wave and returning to strict lockdown measures from July through to October 2020, successfully waning the spread of the virus.
No deaths from COVID-19 were recorded in Australia from 28 December 2020 until 13 April 2021, when an overseas returned traveller died at The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane. There were then none until 11 July, when NSW Health reported a COVID-19 death from the NSW Delta outbreak. In late August 2021, Victoria also reported its first deaths since the end of the outbreak in June 2020 that saw the longest lockdown period in Australia at the time. In response to rising cases, both New South Wales and Victoria underwent extended lockdowns, taking 107 and 77 days respectively, with both states opening up in October 2021. During this time, other Australian states closed their borders to these two states.
Beginning in December 2021, Australia has experienced a major outbreak of the Omicron variant, with significantly higher case numbers than at any other time of the pandemic. As of 22 April 2022, Australia has reported 5,374,402 cases and 6,893 deaths. At the time of writing, there are an estimated 370,228 active cases in Australia.
Norfolk Island
In March 2020, as a precautionary measure, the Norfolk Island Regional Council imposed a 32-day travel ban and declared a state of emergency. Administrator Eric Hutchinson stated that the measures were necessary due to the remote island's extremely limited health capacity. Lockdown measures began to be lifted from 6 May 2020.
Following outbreaks in the Australian Eastern States and Territories in mid-2021, Norfolk islands implemented further restrictions. Covid support packages are available for Norfolk Island businesses and residents.
Norfolk Island has begun administering COVID-19 vaccinations and is expected to complete its initial vaccination rollout by October 2021. As of 2 August, over 60% of residents have received their first jab. Due to the accelerated rollout of the Comirnaty (Pfizer) COVID-19 vaccine and low levels of vaccine hesitancy in Norfolk Island, the region's COVID-19 vaccination clinic is currently slated to be closed on 31 September.
On 30 December 2021, two positive cases were reported. Four other cases were identified on 1 January 2022.
Chile
Easter Island
On 19 March 2020, the local government of Easter Island ordered a lockdown of the island and requested LATAM Airlines to evacuate all tourists on the island. However, on 24 March, the first case of coronavirus was reported on the island. By the start of April, 5 confirmed cases had been reported. All cases have recovered after some weeks and no new cases have been reported since.
Fiji
The first case of the disease in Fiji was reported on 19 March 2020, leading to the lockdowns of Fiji's two largest cities, Lautoka and Suva for over twenty days.
On 31 July 2020, Fiji recorded its first death from COVID-19, a 66-year-old man who was repatriated from India.
After over 365 days of no new cases in the community, Fiji recorded a new community case on 19 April 2021 leading to the immediate lockdown of Nadi and a second lockdown for Lautoka. This lockdown lasted almost fifty days and ended on 5 June 2021 despite COVID-19 cases still growing in the community. A similar lockdown was also introduced in the Central Division which contained Suva, Lami and Nausori in a single large containment area. The lockdown for the Lami-Nausori containment remains in place as of date.
By 20 August 2021, Fiji had confirmed 43,096 cases of COVID-19 with 21,825 recoveries and 432 deaths (plus 247 other unrelated COVID-19 positive patients deaths).
As of 24 August 2021, Fiji had reported 44,188 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 444 deaths to WHO; and as of 13 August 2021, a total of 690,888 vaccine doses having been administered.
France
French Polynesia
On 11 March 2020, the first case in French Polynesia was confirmed. The first patient was Maina Sage, a member of the French National Assembly. There were 39 confirmed cases on 4 April. A ban on sales of alcohol was extended until the crisis is over.
By 11 November 2020, 11,316 cases and more than 4,842 recoveries had been reported in French Polynesia.
As of 12 August 2021, a total of 137,967 vaccine doses have been administered.
As of 24 August 2021, there have been 40,178 confirmed cases and 328 deaths.
New Caledonia
As of 18 July 2020, there were 22 cases in New Caledonia. President Thierry Santa went into self-isolation on 4 April after a member of his staff tested positive. On 7 March 2021, the first nine locally transmitted cases were reported.
Wallis and Futuna
On 16 October 2020, the collectivity reported its first case. On 23 October, a second test on the first case returned a negative result, making the collectivity again COVID-free.
A local community outbreak began on 6 March 2021, and the number of cases has since risen to 302 by 20 March. The first death was reported on 22 March.
Kiribati
On 1 February 2020, the government of Kiribati put all visas from China on hold and required new arrivals to fill in a health form and travellers from countries with the coronavirus to go through a self-quarantine period. Despite not having any cases, on 28 March President Taneti Maamau declared a state of emergency.
On 10 September 2020, the government announced it will keep the borders closed until the end of the year to keep the country free of the virus.
In the month of May 2021, the first two cases of COVID-19 in Kiribati were confirmed, both cases coming from two people on a fishing trip, who were quickly isolated and contained.
As of 14 December 2021, there have been 0 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 0 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 18 November 2021, a total of 82,167 vaccine doses had been administered, representing ≈ 19% fully-vaccinated and ≈49% with at least one-dose.
Marshall Islands
On 24 January 2020, the Marshall Islands issued a travel advisory that requires any visitors to the country to have spent at least 14 days in a country free of the virus. On 1 March, the ban was extended to China, Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Iran.
As of 18 March, all incoming international travel had been temporarily suspended, as well as some intra-island flight services.
The first two positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed at the US Army Garrison on Kwajalein Atoll (USAG-KA) on 29 October. They were both placed in managed quarantine.
On 29 December, the Marshall Islands became the first independent nation in the Pacific to begin its COVID-19 vaccinations.
Micronesia
The Federated States of Micronesia reported its first suspected case in managed isolation on 8 January 2021. The suspected case was later deemed to be non-infectious and a detection of historical viral fragments after the individual returned negative antibody and antigen tests later in the month.
As of 25 April 2022, the Federated States of Micronesia official COVID-19 case count reported to the WHO is five; and as of 6 April 2022, a total of 117,839 vaccine doses have been administered.
Nauru
The government declared a national emergency as a preventive measure, suspending all but one weekly flight to the country and instituting a 14-day quarantine for all arrivals.
On 14 December, an historical case was identified on a shipping vessel. Since the case remained on board, it is not considered to have entered Nauru.
As of 30 March 2022, 22,976 vaccines doses have been administered.
On 2 April 2022, Nauru recorded its first two cases of COVID-19.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported its first case on 28 February 2020 from a citizen who had arrived from Iran on 26 February. The second case was a citizen who had recently traveled to northern Italy. The first local transmission of the virus happened on 4 March in Auckland. On 29 March, New Zealand reported its first fatality, a woman in her 70s from the West Coast region.
The New Zealand Government introduced a four-level alert system on 21 March to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. On 25 March, the country moved into Alert Level 4, placing the country in a nationwide lockdown and closing its borders. While mass gatherings were banned and schools and most businesses were closed, essential services such as supermarkets, petrol stations, and health services remained open. Due to successful efforts to eliminate the pandemic within New Zealand's borders, the alert level system was progressively lowered to Level 3 on 27 April and Level 2 on 13 May, with lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures being eased at each stage. On 9 June, New Zealand entered into Alert level 1, where remaining restrictions on economic activities and daily life were eliminated but the country's borders remained closed to most international travellers.
On 4 May, the country marked the first day without the reports of any new case of COVID-19, a month after the country announced lockdown. By 31 May, there was only one active case with a total of 1,504 (1,154 confirmed and 350 probable) cases, 1,481 recoveries, and 22 deaths. By 8 June, that last active case had recovered. Following 24 consecutive days of no new cases, two new cases resulting from overseas travel were reported on 16 June.
On 11 August 2020, four cases were reported in Auckland, making the first reported community transmissions after 102 days. In response to the Auckland August 2020 community outbreak, lockdown restrictions were reinstated nationwide. Due to the reduction in community transmissions, lockdown restrictions in Auckland and the rest of New Zealand were progressively eliminated on 30 August, 23 September, and 7 October 2020.
While most cases in New Zealand throughout 2021 have occurred at the border, community outbreaks have occurred periodically predominantly in the Auckland Region in February and August 2021, leading to the reinstatement of national lockdown restrictions on both occasions.
New Zealand's national vaccination programme began on 20 February 2021. As of August 2021, 3.33 million vaccinations have been administered; with 2.17 million receiving their first dose and 1.16 million additionally receiving their second dose.
In early October 2021, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed that New Zealand's elimination strategy would be phased out in favour of a new model that takes into account the country's vaccination rates.
In November 2021, a Māori tribe asked anti-vaxxers to stop using the Ka Mate haka to promote their protests.
Cook Islands
On 5 June 2021, the first positive PCR test result in the Cook Islands was obtained which was reported in the media. However, it was determined to be a non-infectious historical known case of a person who had earlier completed quarantine in New Zealand and therefore not counted as an active confirmed case, however already been counted in New Zealand and recovered.