Cut off for nine months, Pacific atoll conservationists emerge to Covid pandemic

Isolated from the rest of the planet since February, group learned about virus sweeping the globe but have escaped its impact - until now

In February, just as the coronavirus pandemic began to take hold, four people set sail for one of the most remote places on Earth - a small camp on Kure Atoll, at the edge of the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

There, more than 2,200km from Honolulu, they lived in isolation for nearly nine months while working to restore the island's environment.