Christmas Island, located in the Indian Ocean, is a non-self governing territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.[3]
Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia: Sir Peter Cosgrove (since March 28, 2014)[4]
Cocos (Keeling) Islands, located in the Indian Ocean, is a non-self governing territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.[3]
Governor General: Sir Peter Cosgrove (since March 28, 2014)[4]
Administrator: Natasha Griggs (since October 5, 2018)[4]
Coral Sea Islands
The
Coral Sea Islands is a territory of Australia administered from Canberra by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts, and Sport.[3]
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a self-governing territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts, and Sport.[3]
Administrator: Eric Hutchinson (since April 1, 2017)[5]
French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France since 2003, though it is often referred to as an overseas country due to its degree of autonomy.[3]
Premier
Daniel Andrews declares a
state of disaster for six local government areas and three alpine resorts in
Victoria, Australia, due to unprecedented risk from bushfires.[32] Two people are confirmed to have died in eastern Victoria from the fires, with 17 people missing.[33]
Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga of American Samoa declared a state of emergency due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The state of emergency was extended on February 28.[35]
The Northern Mariana Islands declares a state of emergency due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.[36]
81 Chinese nationals who arrived in Dravuni,
Kadavu, and Suva; Fiji, via cruise liner
Majestic Princess, were deemed safe by health officials.[37]
February 20 – Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison announces that a royal commission will look into the bushfires that devastated the country last summer. 18 million hectares (44 million acres) burned, 28 people died, and 3,000 homes were destroyed.[41]
March 13 –
New Zealand reports six cases of
COVID-19,
Australia reports 248, including three deaths.
French Polynesia reports three cases. There are no other reports within the region at this time.[50]
March 14
The world's longest passenger flight flew 9,765 miles from Papeete, Tahiti to
Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris without making its usual stop in Los Angeles, California.[51]
Guam reports its first three cases of
COVID-19.[52]
In a historic first, all
Peace Corps volunteers worldwide are withdrawn from their host countries.[53]
March 16 – The government of Guam shuts down for 14 days, including all schools.[54]
March 19 – Two cruise ships are prevented from disembarking in
Honolulu despite not having any cases of COVID-19 on board.[55]
March 20 –
2020 Vanuatuan general election The preliminary count gives 30 of the 52 seats available to the four leading parties. None of the 16 women who ran for election came close to winning.[56]
March 25 – A
State of National Emergency is declared in response to coronavirus in New Zealand.[57] New Zealand is upgraded to alert level 4, and the country enters a four-week lockdown period.[58]
March 31 – Culture Day, Federated States of Micronesia
April
April 1 – With between 150 and 200 cases of COVID-19, healthy sailors aboard the
USS Theodore Roosevelt disembark to be quarantined in hotels on Guam. Infected crew members will stay on
Naval Base Guam. About 10% of the crew are required to remain on the ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.[62]
April 2 – The 5,000 crew members of the USS Roosevelt cheered Captain
Brett Crozier after he was relieved of duty for speaking up about the coronavirus outbreak on the ship. 60,000 people had signed a petition from
Change.org asking for his reinstatement.[63][64]
April 3
Easter Island (or Rapa Nui) reports two cases of COVID-19. The 3,000 inhabitants of the island are nearly 100% dependent upon tourism which has been shut off. There is a daily curfew from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and people fear they may soon be forced to beg for food.[65]
The Solomon Islands says dozens of people could be lost at sea as
Cyclone Harold hits the islands.[66]
Since March 23, 561 Fijians have been repatriated and 1,157 visitors to Fiji have been evacuated.[72]
April 14 – A week after Tropical Cyclone Harold, a
Category 5 superstorm, 35% of the population (100,000 people) of Vanuatu is homeless. Three people died, but the death toll is expected to rise. 27 people died in the Solomon Islands and one died in Fiji. No deaths were reported in Tonga, but 400 homes were destroyed.[73]
April 19 – Twenty-two new cases of
COVID-19 infections in Taiwan are reported in sailors who recently visited Palau. Palau has not had any reported cases.[74]
French Polynesian president Edouard Fritch says he is against across-the-board pay cuts for ministers and assembly members as suggested by the opposition.[77]
Anzac Day: Most public celebrations cancelled, but private memorials are held.[79][80]
Former Tonga Prime Minister
Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō receives a two-year suspended sentence, and a $US1,700 fine for passport, perjury, and firearm offenses.[81]
Trade unions in French Polynesia reject the government's
COVID-19 pandemic relief package.[82]
COVID-19 pandemic: Alyza Alder, 18, from Gilbert, Arizona, was visiting Hawaii when she was arrested after allegedly violating the state's mandatory order that tourists and returning residents self-isolate for 14 days.[89] Hawaii has had 643 confirmed cases and 17 deaths from
COVID-19.
May 23 – The former prime minister of Papua New Guinea,
Peter O'Neill, is arrested and taken in for questioning over alleged misappropriation and corruption involving the purchase of two power generators from Israel for 50 million kina ($14.2 million).[92]
May 23 and 24 – Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday (breaking the fast)[93]
May 24 – A 5.8Mw earthquake strikes New Zealand; Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern continues a television interview. No damages or injuries are reported.[94]
May 25 –
Memorial Day, Hawaii and U.S. territories
July 4 – COVID-19 pandemic: 3,000 people in nine residential towers in Melbourne, Australia are confined to their buildings in the country's strictest lockdown as new infections rise in the area.[103]
Fourteen flight attendants from
Hawaiian Airlines test positive for coronavirus and go into quarantine.[104]
Authorities in
New Zealand say they will press charges against a 32-year-old coronavirus patient who escaped quarantine in Auckland and went shopping at a supermarket.[105]
July 8
Heilala Festival Week, Tonga
A new study from
Stanford University shows that people from four island sites in French Polynesia bore DNA indicative of interbreeding with South Americans most closely related to present-day indigenous Colombians at around 1200 AD. People from Chile's Rapa Nui (Easter Island) also had South American ancestry.[106]
August 4 – Three men are rescued from Pikelot Island, 43 kilometers (27 miles) from
Pulap atoll, Micronesia, after writing
SOS in the sand.[110]
August 9 – COVID-19 pandemic: New Zealand goes 100 days without any new infections.[111]
August 11
COVID-19 pandemic in Hawaii: The state records the highest transmission rate in the U.S. at 1.6, although overall infections remain low at 3,638 cases total.[112]
COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand: Authorities are looking into the possibility that a new outbreak of the virus was introduced in a freight shipment.[113]
August 24 – COVID-19 pandemic: Ten countries (Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu) have not had confirmed cases of coronavirus, although their economies have been hurt by a fall in tourism.[115]
October (date unknown) –
Rowman & Littlefield releases Poisoning the Pacific: The US Military's Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange by
Jon Mitchell (
ISBN978-1-5381-3033-9), which details how the U.S. military has exposed 600,000 people to toxins in Japan and Micronesia.[121]
Fiji imposes a curfew in anticipation of
Cyclone Yasa, a Category 5 storm that is expected to make landall on December 18.[123]
COVID-19 pandemic: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says that her country has contracts to buy more
vaccine doses than are needed and will share the excess with neighbors.[124]
December 20
The U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation to restore
Medicaid to Marshall Islanders in the United States.[125]
COVID-19 pandemic: Samoa, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, Palau, Tuvalu, and Nauru plus
North Korea and
Turkmenistan in Asia are the only countries that have no reported cases of the virus.[126]
December 28 – COVID-19 pandemic: The
Associated Press reports that several island countries are facing food shortages, generally related to border closings.[129]
Tasmanian Legislative Council elections Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Tasmanian Government has taken the decision to defer these elections, with the aim to have polling day in August this year.[130]
The long-running Australian
soap operaNeighbours continues filming by limiting studio access and practicing social distancing. As of April 21, the country reported 6,547 cases of infection and 67 deaths related to COVID-19.[134]
March 5 –
Jeanette Fitzsimons, 75, New Zealand politician and environmentalist, co-leader of the
Green Party (1995–2009) and
MP (1996–2010), stroke.[152]
March 9 –
John Bathersby, 83, Australian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of
Brisbane (1991–2011), Bishop of
Cairns (1986–1991).[153]
March 11 –
Rob Fenwick, 68, New Zealand environmentalist and businessman, cancer.[154]
September 8 –
Benedict To Varpin, 84, Papua New Guinean Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of
Bereina (1979–1987) and Archbishop of
Madang (1987–2001).[176]
Christmas Island, located in the Indian Ocean, is a non-self governing territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.[3]
Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia: Sir Peter Cosgrove (since March 28, 2014)[4]
Cocos (Keeling) Islands, located in the Indian Ocean, is a non-self governing territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.[3]
Governor General: Sir Peter Cosgrove (since March 28, 2014)[4]
Administrator: Natasha Griggs (since October 5, 2018)[4]
Coral Sea Islands
The
Coral Sea Islands is a territory of Australia administered from Canberra by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts, and Sport.[3]
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a self-governing territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts, and Sport.[3]
Administrator: Eric Hutchinson (since April 1, 2017)[5]
French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France since 2003, though it is often referred to as an overseas country due to its degree of autonomy.[3]
Premier
Daniel Andrews declares a
state of disaster for six local government areas and three alpine resorts in
Victoria, Australia, due to unprecedented risk from bushfires.[32] Two people are confirmed to have died in eastern Victoria from the fires, with 17 people missing.[33]
Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga of American Samoa declared a state of emergency due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The state of emergency was extended on February 28.[35]
The Northern Mariana Islands declares a state of emergency due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.[36]
81 Chinese nationals who arrived in Dravuni,
Kadavu, and Suva; Fiji, via cruise liner
Majestic Princess, were deemed safe by health officials.[37]
February 20 – Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison announces that a royal commission will look into the bushfires that devastated the country last summer. 18 million hectares (44 million acres) burned, 28 people died, and 3,000 homes were destroyed.[41]
March 13 –
New Zealand reports six cases of
COVID-19,
Australia reports 248, including three deaths.
French Polynesia reports three cases. There are no other reports within the region at this time.[50]
March 14
The world's longest passenger flight flew 9,765 miles from Papeete, Tahiti to
Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris without making its usual stop in Los Angeles, California.[51]
Guam reports its first three cases of
COVID-19.[52]
In a historic first, all
Peace Corps volunteers worldwide are withdrawn from their host countries.[53]
March 16 – The government of Guam shuts down for 14 days, including all schools.[54]
March 19 – Two cruise ships are prevented from disembarking in
Honolulu despite not having any cases of COVID-19 on board.[55]
March 20 –
2020 Vanuatuan general election The preliminary count gives 30 of the 52 seats available to the four leading parties. None of the 16 women who ran for election came close to winning.[56]
March 25 – A
State of National Emergency is declared in response to coronavirus in New Zealand.[57] New Zealand is upgraded to alert level 4, and the country enters a four-week lockdown period.[58]
March 31 – Culture Day, Federated States of Micronesia
April
April 1 – With between 150 and 200 cases of COVID-19, healthy sailors aboard the
USS Theodore Roosevelt disembark to be quarantined in hotels on Guam. Infected crew members will stay on
Naval Base Guam. About 10% of the crew are required to remain on the ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.[62]
April 2 – The 5,000 crew members of the USS Roosevelt cheered Captain
Brett Crozier after he was relieved of duty for speaking up about the coronavirus outbreak on the ship. 60,000 people had signed a petition from
Change.org asking for his reinstatement.[63][64]
April 3
Easter Island (or Rapa Nui) reports two cases of COVID-19. The 3,000 inhabitants of the island are nearly 100% dependent upon tourism which has been shut off. There is a daily curfew from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and people fear they may soon be forced to beg for food.[65]
The Solomon Islands says dozens of people could be lost at sea as
Cyclone Harold hits the islands.[66]
Since March 23, 561 Fijians have been repatriated and 1,157 visitors to Fiji have been evacuated.[72]
April 14 – A week after Tropical Cyclone Harold, a
Category 5 superstorm, 35% of the population (100,000 people) of Vanuatu is homeless. Three people died, but the death toll is expected to rise. 27 people died in the Solomon Islands and one died in Fiji. No deaths were reported in Tonga, but 400 homes were destroyed.[73]
April 19 – Twenty-two new cases of
COVID-19 infections in Taiwan are reported in sailors who recently visited Palau. Palau has not had any reported cases.[74]
French Polynesian president Edouard Fritch says he is against across-the-board pay cuts for ministers and assembly members as suggested by the opposition.[77]
Anzac Day: Most public celebrations cancelled, but private memorials are held.[79][80]
Former Tonga Prime Minister
Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō receives a two-year suspended sentence, and a $US1,700 fine for passport, perjury, and firearm offenses.[81]
Trade unions in French Polynesia reject the government's
COVID-19 pandemic relief package.[82]
COVID-19 pandemic: Alyza Alder, 18, from Gilbert, Arizona, was visiting Hawaii when she was arrested after allegedly violating the state's mandatory order that tourists and returning residents self-isolate for 14 days.[89] Hawaii has had 643 confirmed cases and 17 deaths from
COVID-19.
May 23 – The former prime minister of Papua New Guinea,
Peter O'Neill, is arrested and taken in for questioning over alleged misappropriation and corruption involving the purchase of two power generators from Israel for 50 million kina ($14.2 million).[92]
May 23 and 24 – Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday (breaking the fast)[93]
May 24 – A 5.8Mw earthquake strikes New Zealand; Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern continues a television interview. No damages or injuries are reported.[94]
May 25 –
Memorial Day, Hawaii and U.S. territories
July 4 – COVID-19 pandemic: 3,000 people in nine residential towers in Melbourne, Australia are confined to their buildings in the country's strictest lockdown as new infections rise in the area.[103]
Fourteen flight attendants from
Hawaiian Airlines test positive for coronavirus and go into quarantine.[104]
Authorities in
New Zealand say they will press charges against a 32-year-old coronavirus patient who escaped quarantine in Auckland and went shopping at a supermarket.[105]
July 8
Heilala Festival Week, Tonga
A new study from
Stanford University shows that people from four island sites in French Polynesia bore DNA indicative of interbreeding with South Americans most closely related to present-day indigenous Colombians at around 1200 AD. People from Chile's Rapa Nui (Easter Island) also had South American ancestry.[106]
August 4 – Three men are rescued from Pikelot Island, 43 kilometers (27 miles) from
Pulap atoll, Micronesia, after writing
SOS in the sand.[110]
August 9 – COVID-19 pandemic: New Zealand goes 100 days without any new infections.[111]
August 11
COVID-19 pandemic in Hawaii: The state records the highest transmission rate in the U.S. at 1.6, although overall infections remain low at 3,638 cases total.[112]
COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand: Authorities are looking into the possibility that a new outbreak of the virus was introduced in a freight shipment.[113]
August 24 – COVID-19 pandemic: Ten countries (Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu) have not had confirmed cases of coronavirus, although their economies have been hurt by a fall in tourism.[115]
October (date unknown) –
Rowman & Littlefield releases Poisoning the Pacific: The US Military's Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange by
Jon Mitchell (
ISBN978-1-5381-3033-9), which details how the U.S. military has exposed 600,000 people to toxins in Japan and Micronesia.[121]
Fiji imposes a curfew in anticipation of
Cyclone Yasa, a Category 5 storm that is expected to make landall on December 18.[123]
COVID-19 pandemic: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says that her country has contracts to buy more
vaccine doses than are needed and will share the excess with neighbors.[124]
December 20
The U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation to restore
Medicaid to Marshall Islanders in the United States.[125]
COVID-19 pandemic: Samoa, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, Palau, Tuvalu, and Nauru plus
North Korea and
Turkmenistan in Asia are the only countries that have no reported cases of the virus.[126]
December 28 – COVID-19 pandemic: The
Associated Press reports that several island countries are facing food shortages, generally related to border closings.[129]
Tasmanian Legislative Council elections Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Tasmanian Government has taken the decision to defer these elections, with the aim to have polling day in August this year.[130]
The long-running Australian
soap operaNeighbours continues filming by limiting studio access and practicing social distancing. As of April 21, the country reported 6,547 cases of infection and 67 deaths related to COVID-19.[134]
March 5 –
Jeanette Fitzsimons, 75, New Zealand politician and environmentalist, co-leader of the
Green Party (1995–2009) and
MP (1996–2010), stroke.[152]
March 9 –
John Bathersby, 83, Australian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of
Brisbane (1991–2011), Bishop of
Cairns (1986–1991).[153]
March 11 –
Rob Fenwick, 68, New Zealand environmentalist and businessman, cancer.[154]
September 8 –
Benedict To Varpin, 84, Papua New Guinean Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of
Bereina (1979–1987) and Archbishop of
Madang (1987–2001).[176]