COVID-19: The 16 Year Old Boy Remains Positive

The Director General of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri and the NEOC Interim Chairman, Agafili Shem Leo.

By Lagi Keresoma

APIA, SAMOA – 25 FEBRUARY 2021: After more tests, the 16 year boy who travelled with his mother from the United Sates remains positive and is still in isolation.

“The virus is getting weaker compared to the first test done on the 12 February but still positive,” confirmed the Director General of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri.

He said they await the results of the swab samples sent to New Zealand last Friday to see if the boy is carrying the new variant affecting people in Great Britain and other countries in Europe.

Leausa said the boy is in good health and has not shown any symptoms of any illness and so is his mother (who tested negative) and the rest of the passengers in quarantine.

However, if anyone’s situation changes, then he/she will not be released after 21 days in quarantine. The 21 days ends on Saturday next week.

“The concern is to contain the spread of the virus out to the community, but to confine it within the isolation or quarantine sites,” said Leausa.

The 16 year old boy is Samoa’s first COVID-19 case, the other cases are historical cases as they have been recorded in other countries prior to their arrival in Samoa.

Repatriation flights
The flight on the 12 February 2021 brings the total number of repatriation flights to 21 since the State of Emergency (SOE) was declared.

The next repatriation flight is on 28 February and Fiji Airways will fly the passengers from the United States to Nadi then on to Samoa.

“It’s a smaller aircraft with the capacity of at least 50 seats that will bring over patients that had surgery at the Shriners hospital in Hawaii and India and missionaries,” explained te NEOC Interim Chairman Agafili Shem Leo.

The flight will leave Los Angeles airport 28 February and will arrive in Samoa on 01 March 2021.

Another flight arrives 5 March from New Zealand with over 300 passengers including returning students. There is also another flight scheduled for 17 April.

Call to utilise the flights
NEOC has called on people who have registered on these repatriation flights to utilize the opportunity given to them to return home.

Agafili said when some of the people were informed of the date and time of their flights, they changed their minds and decided to stay on overseas despite being registered on the flight.

“We are trying to organise these flights due to people wanting to return home, but if this is the kind of behaviour we see, then we could easily advise the Government to stop these repatriation flights,” he said.

He said the last three flights only had 50% occupancy despite the number of registered.

He also reminded Samoans who should return home that there is a thin chance of their visas extended.

Flights from American Samoa
The flight from American Samoa this week brought in 19 people and most of them were here to renew their visas to return to the United States.

“They went through the same medical clearance checks but were not quarantined because most of them have had their COVID-19 injection  and also the fact that American Samoa does not have a case,” explained Leausa.

No flights for voters residing overseas
There is no specific flight to bring in Samoan citizens overseas to cast their votes in the April general elections.

Agafili said there have been requests for such flights, and the NEOC committee advised them to take advantage of the repatriation flights currently in operation.

“We will not have a flight just to have them travel over to cast their votes and then return,” he said.

He also emphasized the fact that under the SOE orders, the only people allowed on these flights are those returning home, diplomats and expats working in Samoa.