A quarter of businesses in the Pacific are not confident they'll survive Covid-19.

The islands have avoided the worst of the outbreak healthwise, but nine out of 10 businesses are losing money and two thirds of them have been affected by weather events.

Cook Islands Private Sector Taskforce chairman Fletcher Melvin told Kate Hawkesby it's very scary for businesses because there's no start-date in sight, which is spreading a lot of uncertainty.

He says they understand the concerns of New Zealand about reopening the borders but says the country is Covid-free.

'We have seen the way New Zealand's reacted, and we feel certain we can react just as quickly, we have done a great job so far."

Melvin is confident the Cook Islands' health system is robust enough to contain an outbreak of Covid-19.

However, he says tourism needs to start up or else there won't be a health system to fight coronavirus in the future.

LISTEN ABOVE