Musk helping restore Tongan internet; virus outbreak growing

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Entrepreneur Elon Musk is helping reconnect Tonga to the internet after a volcanic eruption and tsunami cut off the South Pacific nation more than three weeks ago, according to officials, while repairs on an undersea cable are proving more difficult than first thought.

The tsunami severed the sole fiber-optic cable that connects Tonga to the rest of the world and most people remain without reliable connections.

Three people were confirmed killed in the Jan. 15 eruption of the massive undersea volcano and the resulting tsunami, and several small settlements in outlying islands were wiped out and a thick layer of volcanic ash that blanketed the main island tainted much of the drinking water.

Tonga had avoided the COVID-19 pandemic for more than two years, but it is now in the midst of an outbreak with new infections growing rapidly after the virus was apparently brought in by foreign military crews aboard ships and planes delivering critical aid after the volcanic eruption.

Two Tongan dockworkers tested positive for the virus last week, and the country has been in lockdown in many areas as it tries to stop the virus from spreading. Nonetheless, the number of cases has been growing and Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said Wednesday that infections more than doubled overnight, with 19 new cases.

That brings the total to 35 cases overall in the nation of 105,000 — 34 in the current outbreak and one from last October, when a missionary tested positive after returning from Africa via New Zealand.

Health Minister Saia Piukala said several of the new cases reported Tuesday included people who went out to drink kava, a popular intoxicating drink made from the root of a local plant, with a friend who was infected.

“It is prohibited for kava clubs...