On 12 January 2020, theWorld Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that anovel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.[2][3]
By March 2020, 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.[7] By June 2020, the government had formed a COVID-19 Taskforce.[8] On 14 December, a historical case was identified on a shipping vessel. Since the case remained on board, it was not considered to have entered Nauru.[9]
On 2 April 2022, Nauru recorded its first two cases of COVID-19.[10][11] At the end of April 2022, two other cases were detected from incoming travelers and were contained in a quarantine facility.[12][13] By 2 May, in reporting to theWHO, there were five confirmed COVID-19 cases; 22,976 vaccines doses administered, accounting for 79% of the population with two doses and 49% with thebooster.[14] On 21 June, Nauru reported its first community case. In addition, a total of 337 tested positive for COVID-19.[15] Nauru recorded its first and only death from COVID-19 on 1 July, ofReanna Solomon, aweightlifter who was the first female Nauruan athlete to win aCommonwealth Games gold medal.[16][17] The number of cases continued to rise for the remainder of the year.
By early March 2023, the total cases had reached 5,393 and no new cases were recorded after.[18] By July 2023, the government disbanded the COVID-19 Taskforce, redirecting COVID-19 cases to theRepublic of Nauru Hospital.[19]
