WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, the Prime Minister of Samoa, has placed a 48-hour lockdown after the small Pacific nation recorded 15 Covid cases on a flight from Australia.
“Members of the public have been warned that there will be consequences if they do not comply with the nationwide lockdown restrictions over the next two days”, Samoa Observer Tweeted.
Of the total 73 passengers who were traveling from Brisbane, 15 had been tested positive for Covid on Wednesday.
After reporting 15 positive cases for Covid in just a day, Prime Minister, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa announced to postpone upcoming flights from Australia. Meanwhile, another scheduled flight expected from New Zealand has already been canceled on Saturday, Radio New Zealand reported.
All passengers for the scheduled flight were completely vaccinated and had reportedly tested negative for Covid before departure.
Lemanu Palepoi Sialega “Peleti” Mauga, the governor of American Samoa, issued a solidarity statement to Samoa to support its Prime Minister. He declared flight cancellation with the country for a week in his statement.
The small island country, Samoa, home to 200,000 people, has 18 positive Covid cases.
While American Samoa reported 18 active cases, including travelers on Hawaiian Airlines flights from Honolulu in a recent update.
On January 6th, the latest bunch of Covid positive people had arrived.
“There is no lockdown in American Samoa, and flights between Honolulu and Pago Pago continue on a limited basis”, reports arrived.
The streets were deserted after the government imposed a country-wide lockdown, reported Samoa Observer.
“It is a rare sight for church buildings in Samoa to be empty on a Sunday, but the realities of living a pandemic era sunk in, after the Government declared a 48-hour lockdown”.
“The streets and roads around the Samoan capital Apia were deserted on Sunday with residents staying indoors as the country went through the first day of a 48-hour lockdown”.
When the government announced the state of emergency, citizens in Apia began panic buying and stocking up supplies for the upcoming rainy days.
“The Government’s declaration of a 48-hour lockdown on Saturday triggered a lot of panic buying in Apia with residents overwhelming shops and businesses to stock up on supplies”.
