January • January 1 •
New Year's Day •
2020 New Year Honours in the Commonwealth • The death toll from the
current bushfire season in the
South Coast of
New South Wales, Australia, rises to seven. • January 2 • Takai Commission Holiday, Niue • 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. Two people are confirmed to have died in eastern Victoria from the fires, with 17 people missing. • January 5 – The
Australian town of
Eden, New South Wales is evacuated due to the bushfires. • January 20 –
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, United States and territories • January 25 –
Chinese New Year / Year of the Rat, Christmas Island • January 26 –
Australia Day •
2020 Australia Day Honours • January 29 • 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. • The Northern Mariana Islands declares a state of emergency due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. • 81 Chinese nationals who arrived in Dravuni,
Kadavu, and Suva; Fiji, via cruise liner
Majestic Princess, were deemed safe by health officials.
February • February 3 • The tourism industry in
Queensland, Australia, is hit hard by the
COVID-19 pandemic. • A state of emergency is declared in
Milford Sound, New Zealand, as rain and flooding hit the region. • February 6 –
Waitangi Day in New Zealand and Niue • February 28 • New Zealand Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern state visit to Fiji. • The first case of the
COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand is confirmed. They had recently returned from
Iran via
Bali.
March • March 1 •
Yap Day, Federated States of Micronesia • Australia records its first death from the
COVID-19 pandemic. • March 3 –
Democratic presidential caucuses in American Samoa:
Michael Bloomberg (49.9%) wins four delegates for the
Democratic presidential nomination and
Tulsi Gabbard (29.3%) gets two. On March 4 Bloomberg drops out and endorses
Joe Biden. • March 3 to 10 –
2020 Democrats Abroad primary: Proportional to the numbers of people from different regions voting, the Asia-Pacific region is allocated one of the nine regional delegates. Overall,
Bernie Sanders (57.9%) wins nine delegates for the
Democratic presidential nomination and
Joe Biden (22.7%) gets four. • March 5 •
Missionary Day, French Polynesia • A truck collides with a sacred stone figure on Easter Island. • March 7 - Guam History and Chamorro Heritage Day • March 8 –
International Women's Day (celebrated in some localities on March 9) • March 10 – Niue becomes the world's first
dark sky country. • 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. • 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. •
Democratic presidential caucuses in the Northern Mariana Islands:
Bernie Sanders (62.7%) wins four delegates for the
Democratic presidential nomination and
Joe Biden (35.8%) gets two. • March 15 • Guam reports its first three cases of
COVID-19. • In a historic first, all
Peace Corps volunteers worldwide are withdrawn from their host countries. • March 19 – Two cruise ships are prevented from disembarking in
Honolulu despite not having any cases of COVID-19 on board. • 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. • March 25 – A
State of National Emergency is declared in response to coronavirus in New Zealand. New Zealand is upgraded to alert level 4, and the country enters a four-week lockdown period. • March 26 • The perpetrator of the 2019
Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand pleads guilty to all 51 murder charges, as well as 40 charges of attempted murder and one charge of engaging in a terrorist act laid under the
Terrorism Suppression Act 2002. •
Prince Kūhiō Day, Hawaii • March 27 –
Space Fence opens in
Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands • March 28 –
Queensland local government elections, Australia. Results here • 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. • 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. • 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. • The Solomon Islands says dozens of people could be lost at sea as
Cyclone Harold hits the islands. • April 4 • Vanuatu is on alert for Cyclone Harold. • COVID-19 • Fiji announces a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases from seven to twelve. • Guam has two more COVID-19 deaths and two more positive tests, bringing the total number of cases to 84. • New Caledonia president Thierry Santa moves into self-isolation after a member of her crisis management team tested positive. • April 8 –
National Health Day, Kiribati • April 10 –
Good Friday (Christian holiday) • April 13 •
Easter Monday (Christian holiday) • Since March 23, 561 Fijians have been repatriated and 1,157 visitors to Fiji have been evacuated. • 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. • 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. • April 20 • The U.S.
Air Force Global Strike Command announces that after 16 years it is ending its ending the continuous bomber presence (CBP) mission in Guam in favor of forward-deploying bombers to the Indo-Pacific. The
B-1B Lancer,
B-52, and
B-2 Spirit used to rotate back and forth to
Andersen Air Force Base, but the B-1 was phased out in 2018. On April 18, B-1s flew from
Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, to
Misawa Air Base, Japan. • French Polynesian president Edouard Fritch says he is against across-the-board pay cuts for ministers and assembly members as suggested by the opposition. • Second round of
2020 Kiribati parliamentary election. • April 25 •
Anzac Day: Most public celebrations cancelled, but private memorials are held. • Former Tonga Prime Minister
Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō receives a two-year suspended sentence, and a $US1,700 fine for passport, perjury, and firearm offenses. • Trade unions in French Polynesia reject the government's
COVID-19 pandemic relief package. • April 28 –
St. Peter Chanel Day, Wallis and Fortuna. Chanel is the Catholic
patron saint of Oceania, buried on
Fortuna Island.
May • May 1 •
International Workers' Day • Constitution Day, Marshall Islands • May 8 •
Vavaʻu Festival Week and
ʻEua Tourism Festival, Tonga • New Zealand announces its support for the inclusion of
Taiwan in the
World Health Organization. • May 10 – Constitution Day, Micronesia • May 16 –
China opens an embassy in Kiribati. • May 20 • Restoration of Independence, East Timor Hawaii has had 643 confirmed cases and 17 deaths from
COVID-19. • May 22 •
May 2020 New Zealand National Party leadership election.
Todd Muller and
Nikki Kaye won. •
2020 Hawaii Democratic presidential primary:
Joe Biden (60.5%) wins 16 delegates for the
Democratic presidential nomination and
Bernie Sanders (35.2%) gets eight. • 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). • May 23 and 24 –
Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday (breaking the fast) • May 24 – A 5.8Mw earthquake strikes New Zealand; Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern continues a television interview. No damages or injuries are reported. • May 25 –
Memorial Day, Hawaii and U.S. territories
June • June 1 •
Queen's Official Birthday, New Zealand and associated islands • Independence Day, Samoa • June 1 to 5 – Thousands of demonstrators march across
Australia and
New Zealand in protest of police brutality in the United States as well as
Racism in Australia and discrimination against the
Māori people in New Zealand. • June 2 – Three thousand demonstrators in Sydney, Australia,
protest the murder of George Floyd in the United States. Amelia Brace, a reporter for Australian television network Channel 7, is knocked down by police live on air as she covered
George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C. • June 6 •
Democratic presidential caucuses in Guam:
Joe Biden (69.6%) wins five delegates for the
Democratic presidential nomination and
Bernie Sanders (30.4%) gets two. • June 7 – Independence Day, Solomon Islands • June 29 – Internal Autonomy Day, French Polynesia • July 2 – Discovery Day, Pitcairn Islands • July 4 –
Independence Day, United States (celebrated in Hawaii and U.S. territories) • July 7 • COVID-19 pandemic • Fourteen flight attendants from
Hawaiian Airlines test positive for coronavirus and go into quarantine. • 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. • 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. • July 9 • Constitution Day, Palau (1981) • July 10 – Gospel Day, Kiribati • July 17 – A 7.0Mw earthquake with an epicenter in
Morobe Patrol Post, New Guinea, is recorded. Only minor damages are reported. • July 21 –
Liberation Day, Guam • July 23 –
Remembrance Day, Papua New Guinea • July 24 – Children's Day, Vanuatu • July 29 –
Territory Day, Wallis and Futuna • July 30 –
Independence Day, Vanuatu
August • August 3 •
Labour Day, Samoa •
National Children's Day / Tamaliki, Tuvalu • August 4 – Three men are rescued from Pikelot Island, 43 kilometers (27 miles) from
Pulap atoll, Micronesia, after writing
SOS in the sand. • August 9 – COVID-19 pandemic: New Zealand goes 100 days without any new infections. • 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. •
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. • August 15 –
Assumption of Mary (Christian holiday) • August 18 – The
United States Department of Defense investigates two masked, uniformed soldiers who joined American Samoa Governor
Lolo Matalasi Moliga (D), who appeared online during the
2020 Democratic National Convention. • August 22 –
2020 Northern Territory general election • 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. • August 26 –
Repentance Day, Papua New Guinea • August 30 – Popular Consultation Day, East Timor • August 31 – COVID-19 pandemic: Hawaii requires visitors to complete a "Safe Travels" digital app 24 hours before their flights.
September • September 4 • Labor Day, Marshall Islands • Palau invites the United States to construct land bases, port facilities, and airfields on its territory. • September 7 –
Labor Day, Hawaii and U.S. territories • September 8 – Members of the Colorado cult "Love has Won Cult” are deported after complaints of cultural appropriation. • September 16 – Independence Day, Papua New Guinea • September 18 – Independence Day, Chile • September 23 – Ishmael Toroama, a former rebel leader, is elected president of
Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. • September 24 – New Caledonia Day
November • November 1 –
All Saints' Day, Christian holiday • November 2 –
All Souls' Day, Christian holiday • November 3 – Independence Day, Micronesia • November 6 –
Arbor Day, Samoa • November 9 –
Heir to the Throne's birthday, Commonwealth countries • November 11 –
Veterans Day, Hawaii, U.S. territories, Micronesia;
Armistice Day in France and French territories • November 12 – National Youth Day, Anniversary of the
Santa Cruz massacre; East Timor • November 14 –
Diwali, Hindu festival of lights; Fiji • November 17 –
Presidents' Day, Marshall Islands • November 26 –
Thanksgiving, Hawaii and U.S. territories; Micronesia • November 28 – Proclamation of Independence Day, East Timor • December 17 • Fiji imposes a curfew in anticipation of
Cyclone Yasa, a Category 5 storm that is expected to make landall on December 18. • 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. • December 20 • The U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation to restore
Medicaid to Marshall Islanders in the United States. • 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. • December 21 –
Kīlauea volcano on Hawaii's
Big Island erupts. • December 22 – Two Russian
Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers and four Chinese
H-6K bombers fly over the
Sea of Japan and the
East China Sea. • December 28 – COVID-19 pandemic: The
Associated Press reports that several island countries are facing food shortages, generally related to border closings. ==Scheduled==