[1] On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

[8][6] On 1 February 2020, the government of Kiribati put all visas from China on hold and required new arrivals to fill in a health form and travellers from countries with the coronavirus to go through a self-quarantine period.

Some exceptions will be made, including repatriations, humanitarian flights and the transport of essential supplies into the country.

[11] On 19 November, the government repatriated 62 citizens, who had been stranded abroad since February, on a chartered Fiji Airways flight.

[14] On 18 May 2021, I-Kiribati president Taneti Maamau announced the first positive case, a local seafarer returning from Papua New Guinea on a ship quarantined in Betio port.

[18] Minister of Health, Dr Tinte Itinteang, reported that a second I-Kiribati fisherman has been identified and has recovered.

[21] A local I-Kiribati security guard at the quarantine center in Bikenibeu also tested positive after contact with the plane's passengers.

[26] Kiribati is an eligible country for COVAX program, and is expected to receive 48,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.