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Agence France-Presse

A coronavirus-free tropical island nestled in the northern Pacific may seem the perfect place to ride out a pandemic – but residents on Palau say life right now is far from idyllic.
The microstate of 18,000 people is among a dwindling number of places on Earth that still report zero cases of Covid-19 as figures mount daily elsewhere.
The disparate group also includes Samoa, Turkmenistan, North Korea and bases on the frozen continent of Antarctica.
A dot in the ocean hundreds of kilometres from its nearest neighbours, Palau is surrounded by the vast Pacific, which has acted as a buffer against the virus.


Along with strict travel restrictions, this seems to have kept infections at bay for a number of nations including Tonga, the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.
But remoteness is not certain to stop the relentless march of the new disease. The Northern Mariana Islands confirmed its first cases over the weekend, followed by a suspected death on Monday.
Klamiokl Tulop, a 28-year-old artist and single mum, is hopeful Palau can avoid the fate of Wuhan, New York or Madrid – where better-resourced health services were overrun.
But she describes a growing sense of dread, a fear that the virus is coming or could already be on the island undetected.

“You can feel a rising tension and anxiety just shopping,” she said. “Stores are crowded even more during non-payday weeks.”
There have been several scares on Palau, including a potential case that saw one person placed into quarantine this week as authorities await test results.
Inside Australia’s four remote Antarctic research bases, around 90 people have found themselves ensconced on the only virus-free continent as they watch their old home transform beyond recognition.
There is no need for social distancing in the tundra.

“They’re probably the only Australians at the moment that can have a large dinner together or have the bar still open or the gym still open,” said Antarctic Division Operations manager Robb Clifton.
The bases are now isolated until November, so the group is safe, but Clifton admits “the main thing that’s on the mind of expeditioners is how their loved ones are going back home.”
In some places, reporting no cases does not always mean there are no cases to report.
North Korea has portrayed emergency measures as an unqualified success in keeping Covid-19 out, despite sustained epidemics in neighbouring China and South Korea.

But state media also appears to have doctored images to give ordinary North Koreans face masks – handing sceptics reason to believe the world’s most secretive government may not be telling the whole truth.
While Palau has no confirmed cases, it has still been gripped by the society-altering fears and economic paralysis that have affected the rest of the world.
Supermarket aisles in the country’s largest town Koror have seen panic buying and there are shortages of hand sanitisers, masks and alcohol.
The islands depend heavily on goods being shipped or flown in, meaning supplies can quickly run low.

United Airlines used to fly six times a week from nearby Guam – which has seen more than 50 cases – but now there is just one flight a week.
“Look at how bad we coped when shipments were late before this pandemic happened,” Tulop said. “Everyone was practically in uproar.”
Residents have been practising social distancing. Doctors are waiting for test kits to arrive from Taiwan. The government is building five isolation rooms that will be able to hold up to 14 patients.
It all feels like waiting for the inevitable.
“I would like to be optimistic we won’t get the virus,” Tulop said. “But Palau would most definitely get it. We rely heavily on tourism and most of us even need to travel for work.”
Pacific islands employ ‘fortress tactics’ in bid to halt outbreak
Rondy Ronny’s job is to host big tourist events, but work has already dried up, and he admits to being “very anxious”.
“I have loans and bills and payments due,” he said. “This will definitely put me back, I hope the government will do something about our economy too, to help it recover.”
Palau’s biggest test may yet come with the first positive case.
But even in the most remote corners of the world, the impact of this truly global pandemic is already being felt.
Nowhere, it seems, is truly virus-free.


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Pacific islands, Antarctic bases: coronavirus-free living in some of Earth’s most isolated places

An expeditioner watches the Aurora Australis at the ADD's Davis Station in Antarctica, the only coronavirus-free continent. Photo: AFP

epa06345421 (FILE) - A tourist takes photographs of the sea in Palau, 16 January 2010 (issued 23 November 2017). According to media reports, the China National Tourism Administration has recently notified all Chinese travel agencies to remove Taiwan's diplomatic allies the Vatican and Palau from their destination lists. The Vatican and Palau are among the 20 mostly-small countries which recognize Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China (ROC). EPA-EFE/DAVID CHANG

This handout photo taken in July 10, 2008 and released on March 31, 2020 by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) shows the ADD's Casey Station in Antarctica. - Inside Australia's four remote Antarctic research bases, some 89 people find themselves ensconced on the only COVID-19 coronavirus-free continent as they watch their old home transform beyond recognition. (Photo by TODOR IOLOVSKI / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION / AFP) / TO BE USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR AFP STORY Health-Virus-Palau -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / TODOR IOLOVSKI / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES - ONE TIME USE /

Workers of the Ryongaksan Soap Factory make disinfectants in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, March 19, 2020. North Korea has been engaged in an intense campaign to guard against COVID-19, though it hasn’t officially reported any cases of infection. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

Shutterstock 158056682. --Palau-- This Shutterstock image shows islands of Palau. [09OCTOBER2016 FEATURES]

In India, doctors evicted over infection fears amid expected flood of coronavirus cases

A combination of virus stigma, poor health awareness and ‘herd mentality’ have been blamed for the evictions of doctors across India. Photo: AP

Indian nurses wearing masks walk outside a special ward set aside for possible COVID-19 patients, in Mumbai, India, Thursday, March 12, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

People gather in a balcony of a residential building to clap and make noise with kitchenware to thank essential service providers during a one-day Janata (civil) curfew imposed amid concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, in Amritsar on March 22,2002. - Millions of people in India were in lockdown on March 22 as the government tests the country's ability to fight the pandemic that has killed nearly 13,000 worldwide. (Photo by NARINDER NANU / AFP)

TOPSHOT - A worker arranges beds to prepare a quarantine centre in an indoor stadium at the Sarusajai Sports Complex during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Guwahati on March 29, 2020. (Photo by Biju BORO / AFP)

A doctor walks past patients waiting to be examined for fever and other aliments at a government-run hospital in New Delhi, India. Photo: AP

Coronavirus is now classified as a pandemic

Morning commuters in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Bloomberg

An analyst at Fiocruz laboratory, a public health research institute, in Rio de Janeiro holds a sample of mucus to be tested for COVID-19, on March 11, 2020. - The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Coronavirus a pandemic with 118,000 cases in about 120 countries, and 4000 deaths. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / AFP)

12 March 2020, Iran, Tehran: Patients infected with coronavirus lay on their beds at Sina hospital. Photo: Rouzbeh Fouladi/ZUMA Wire/dpa

World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the new coronavirus outbreak can now be characterised as a pandemic. Photo: AFP

Coronavirus: Pacific islands employ ‘fortress tactics’ in bid to halt outbreak

Pacific island nations such as Niue, pictured, are fearful their small health care systems could be overrun by the outbreak. Photo: DPA

A nurse holds a thermometer that measures body temperature as a preventive measure against the new coronavirus, COVID-19, at the Aurora International Airport, in Guatemala City, on March 4, 2020. - Guatemalan health authorities enforce controls at the airport following the rise of COVID-19 cases. (Photo by Johan ORDONEZ / AFP)

Japan’s coronavirus response questioned as tourism nosedives on its tropical islands

A security guard shows a body temperature measuring device at the reception of a government office in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

People wearing masks walk at Naha Kokusai shopping street in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, on Feb. 14, 2020, amid coronavirus fears. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Photo taken in Naha in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, on Jan. 11, 2020, shows the sunrise at Shuri Castle, the main building of which burned down in October 2019. The 2020 Olympics torch relay in Okinawa will start from the World Heritage-listed site. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe answers questions during a upper house budget committee session at parliament in Tokyo on March 4, 2020. - Abe on February 29 pledged another emergency package to tackle the coronavirus, appealing for cooperation as he faces criticism over drastic prevention measures. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

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The microstate of Palau is among a dwindling number of places that still report zero Covid-19 cases, alongside Samoa and Antarctica
Remoteness and strict travel restrictions seem to have acted as a buffer, but are not certain to halt the relentless march of the disease



The microstate of Palau is among a dwindling number of places that still report zero Covid-19 cases, alongside Samoa, Turkmenistan, North Korea and the frozen continent of Antarctica.
