For two years the pandemic spared them, life went on like nothing had happened and many of us Europeans, between a lockdown and a red zone, thought for a moment of moving to those remote Pacific islands.
But the very high transmissibility of the Omicron variant spares no one, and from today the islands of Kiribati and Samoa have also entered lockdown, after a surge in infections due to arrivals from abroad.
Until early January Kiribati had not reported even one case of Covid, Samoa only two since the beginning of the pandemic according to WHO data.
In Kiribati, with the reopening of the borders, dozens of passengers arriving from Fiji tested positive for the virus. In Samoa, on the other hand, there are 15 cases linked to a repatriation flight from Brisbane, said Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa. All positives were infected with the Omicron variant and quarantined, the authorities decided to put in place restrictive measures.
The capital of Kiribati, which is home to almost half of the island's 120,000 inhabitants, has been subjected to very severe measures after having registered the first cases of Covid among the inhabitants. Residents can only go out to get food or for health care, it is not yet clear how long the lockdown will last. Similar steps have been taken in Samoa.
According to WHO data, about 62% of the population of Samoa is fully vaccinated, while about 34% of the population of Kiribati has received the two doses.
(Unioneonline / L)
