COVID-19 POSITIVE CASE: 24-year-old male in quarantine

By Talaia Mika

APIA, SAMOA – 13 DECEMBER: A twenty-four-year-old male who arrived on 9 December from Fiji is now in isolation after he tested positive for COVID-19.

The Director General of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri confirmed this afternoon that the 24-year-old male was in Hawaii, transited through Las Vegas to Fiji before he arrived in Samoa last Thursday.

He completed both first and second doses for Covid-19 and is now in isolation at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole hospital.

According to Leausa, the other passengers who sat two rows at the front and two rows behind the affected passenger have been contacted to be brought into the main hospital for tests.

The Fiji flight landed with 134 passengers; 30 transited from outside of Fiji, 1 from Israel, 5 from New Zealand and the others from the United States and Hawaii.

The majority of the passengers from Fiji were returning students who were stranded in Fiji.

In the normal process of repatriation flights, the passengers are tested on arrival at Faleolo international airport before they are escorted to their allocated quarantine sites.

During quarantine, 5 to 7 tests are conducted for each passenger and are only released after they are cleared of infection.

With the latest positive case, Leausa is urging members of the public not to be alarmed as the latest positive case has no symptoms of coronavirus and is seemingly well and walking unassisted.

There are two more repatriation flights scheduled to arrive this month as last flights for this year.