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Corona-free Kiribati in lockdown after infections via first flight in ten months

In the nearly two years that the corona pandemic has lasted, the Pacific island nation of Kiribati managed to keep the virus at bay until recently. But on the first international flight in about ten months, coming from Fiji, two-thirds of the 54 passengers tested positive.

All went into isolation, but now four corona cases have emerged in the island community. Three security guards from the quarantine center have contracted the virus, one more case has been identified outside of it. As of today, the entire island of South Tarawa, where about half of the 120,000 Kiribatians live, will go into lockdown; a measure that has not been taken before.

The measures mean that people are only allowed to leave their home if they have a crucial profession, to do groceries or use healthcare. Public transport is not running, the catering industry is completely closed and any form of social meeting is prohibited. Shops are open between 6am and 2pm.

It is unclear how the passengers on board the flight contracted the virus. They were quarantined for two weeks prior to the flight and were regularly tested. They also needed a negative test to board and were vaccinated.

Samoa

It is unclear how long the lockdown will last. According to Kiribati president Taneti Maamau, “the only way to fight this virus is full vaccination”. The British newspaper The Guardian writes that more than 90 percent of the adult population has had a first injection and more than 50 percent also a second dose.

Samoa, 2400 kilometers away, has also announced a lockdown. As in Kiribati, infections were brought in via a flight. At least fifteen passengers from Brisbane in Australia tested positive.

So far, there had been only two corona cases in Samoa during the entire pandemic.

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