2022 – Kiribati – COVID-19 rapid assessment

In February 2022, an AUSMAT Rapid Assessment Team deployed to assist the Government of Kiribati in response to the Pacific nation’s first community outbreak of COVID-19. The Government of Kiribati had kept the pandemic at bay as a result of proactive decision-making and border control measures. However, as international borders throughout the Pacific begun to reopen with the hope of boosting tourism, the first international flight to land in Kiribati also had a high prevalence of COVID-19 positive passengers with the Omicron variant, and rapid community transmission soon followed in Tarawa and atolls.

AUSMAT’s primary objective was to provide a rapid assessment of the situation and identify medical assistance required to contain and manage the outbreak. The comprehensive assessment captured acute-care, clinical pathways, surge capacity, quarantine facilities, infection prevention and control and personal protective equipment standards, testing, vaccination, public health, waste management, power and biomedical equipment. AUSMAT recommendations were presented to the Government of Kiribati and provided to incoming international technical experts to assist with the ongoing COVID-19 response.