By Jordan Bond for Radio New Zealand

Government ministers have backed down over tangi and funeral rules, which initially restricted attendees to a maximum of 10 people at a time.

It is now set at 50 people, but the funeral director must submit a plan and have it accepted showing they can mitigate health risks of spreading Covid-19.

"It's definitely what the public have been asking for, so they'll be happy. We're happy, and we'll accommodate whatever needs to be accommodated by the Ministry of Health," said Funeral Directors Association spokesperson Simon Manning.

The association asked Minister of Health David Clark for the limit to be 100 people, arguing they would be more than capable of handling that number, Manning said.

Gee and Hickton Funeral Directors general manager Gavin Murphy agreed that 50 people was too few, but should be better than a limit of 10, which put some families in an unfathomable situation.…more

Six medical scholarships offered to thirteen recipients, with a combined value of $90,000, are providing a head start to Pasifika students pursuing a career in the health sector.

It’s the third year the Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) has offered the scholarships, which supports undergraduate and postgraduate studies, placements in the Pacific islands and students from Otahuhu College’s Science Technology English and Maths(STEM) programme, an initiative supported by the association which prepares Pacific high school students for a career in health science.

PMA CEO, Debbie Sorensen, says the scholarships ensures more Pacific students are supported in careers that will benefit the Pacific community.

“Our group has been supporting Pacific clinicians for over 20 years, we recognise their value to the health sector and Pacific communities continue to benefit from their expertise.…more

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a staggered move into level 2 starting on Thursday, with schools and bars reopening later and groups limited to 10 people.

Ardern, joined by Director-General of Dr Health Ashley Bloomfield, made the announcement at 4pm, saying the country would officially move to level 2 at 11.59pm on Wednesday.

"We may have won the battle, but we have not won the war," Ardern told New Zealanders.  "None of us can assume Covid isn't with us."

She said retail, malls, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and other public spaces including playgrounds and gyms would be able to reopen on Thursday, 14 May.  

Schools would return to normal classes from Monday 18 May, while bars would have to wait until Thursday 21 May to reopen.  Ardern clarified that bars would be distinguished from restaurants by using the Easter trading regulations.  She warned that groupings would also be restricted to just 10 people.

"Why 10? simple.…more

Relief doesn’t even begin to describe how Cook Island mother Rachel Metuangaro and her 15- year-old daughter are feeling this week. After six-weeks of having to under-go strict isolation in Auckland, the pair have finally been given the all clear to head back to Rarotonga this weekend.

“We are one of the first groups to go home, we’re just so happy,” Metuangaro says. “Our family back home have been worried about us, but they are looking forward to us coming back. Sadly though, we won’t be able to see them straight away. As soon as we get off the plane, we have to hop on a bus that will take us to another facility where we will have to quarantine for two more weeks.”

In the last two-weeks they were moved from The Mount Richmond Hotel to The Holiday Inn in Mangere, a place that has become a temporary quarantine centre for returning Cook Islanders.

"Everybody has been in really good spirits since we heard the Cook Island borders have opened again,” says Metuangaro.…more

The CoconetTV ongoing Pacific Islands updates for our community in Aotearoa and the Pacific region.

To catch up on previous updates click here

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End of week round up - 

NEW ZEALAND - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern outlined conditions the country will face under Alert Level 2 prior to next week's announcement of when New Zealand will move. 

As countries around the world continue to battle the devastation of Covid-19, Samoa remains one of the few nations to be Covid-19 free.

Dr Belladonna Potoi, an executive of the Samoa Association of General Practitioners, who lives and runs a clinic in her homeland, says Samoa learned to manage a pandemic after having to deal with a measles outbreak at the end of last year, which infected 5,700 people and killing 83, mostly children.

When the Samoan government discovered Covid-19 was spreading across the world, it was one of the first country’s to close its borders.

“Very early on, we knew we had to be proactive because if we didn’t, then it would have been the measles outbreak all over again, which was a horror story and was still fresh in people’s minds. Our response to another threat had to be quick,” says Dr Potoi.

The foresight paid off and the Pacific nation avoided a Covid-19 outbreak.…more

Pacific Islander communities in California have faced economic and health disparties that make them vulnerable to the coronavirus reports abc10 news. and LAist.com

For two weeks in March, Dr. Raynald Samoa fought to move air through his lungs. After recovering from COVID-19, the Los Angeles-based diabetes specialist posted videos on Facebook urging others to stay home. His posts resonated with California’s small but tight-knit Pacific Islander community as questions and stories flooded his inbox.

One family described the anguish and guilt of watching a loved one struggle out of bed to the ambulance — “the least Pacific thing that you can do,” Samoa said — because the first responders wouldn’t come inside. Another family revealed how three breadwinners were hospitalized with the disease, unable to care for their kids.

GOVT. PRESS SECRETARIAT;

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has responded to New Zealand Law Society President Tiana Epati’s “serious concerns” with the constitutional law reforms under review in Samoa.

The Prime Minister’s reply is published verbatim.

“There is no place for the President of an overseas Law Society to use that organization’s name to try to lecture us or interfere with our country’s democratic processes.

Samoa’s Government is trying to create a Specialist Court of Appeal for its own cultural Lands and Titles to be legally acknowledged and preserved.

It is a matter now at Select Committee for public consultation, and it is a matter for Samoa. In short, it is none of your overseas presidential business.

All the best as you concentrate on the needs of all your society’s members, and we will concentrate on looking after our own country-Samoa.…more