The 16 year old Samoan who tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving on 12 February has been released for home isolation.
The Director General of Health, Leausa Dr Take Naseri, told a press conference the young man returned another positive test last Friday but it showed a significantly lower presence of the coronavirus.
Samoa Health Director Leausa Dr Take Naseri, left, and Agafili Tomaimano Shem Leo, chair of the National Emergency Operation Centre.
Photo: Samoa govt
According to Leausa, his family had asked if he could be sent home to self-isolate and they had sought approval from the village mayor to allow this to happen.
Photo: AFP
The Director-General of Health, Leausa Dr Take Naseri, said in times of a pandemic everyone needed to support and take part in a mass vaccination.
Leausa said front-line workers such as health personnel would be priorities to receive the vaccine.
The UN resident co-ordinator in Samoa, Dr Simona Marinescu, said the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, approved up to 50,000 vaccine doses for Samoa, enough for 20 percent of the population and officials. She said the vaccine should be in Samoa before the end of March.
Leausa said that would not be enough doese but Samoa was finalising plans with aid partners to fund vaccinations for a further 40 percent of the population as part of the COVAX facility agreement, to ensure around 120,000 people (or 60 percent of the population) are vaccinated this year.
Samoa will receive its first shipment of Pfizer vaccine by the end of March with the Ministry of Health looking at legal options for people who would not want to be immunised.
The
Samoa Observer reports the numbers were confirmed by the Chairman of the National Emergency Operations Centre, Agafili Shem Leo, at a press conference on Thursday. The Committee can confirm that the number of citizens wanting to return has reached 2,000 on the list at the moment, he revealed.
He predicted that by next week it will probably go up to 2,500 people. The number doesn t drop - it goes up, he said.
Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Agafili Shem Leo.
Photo: Samoa Government
The first repatriation flight of the New Year on 22 January has been prioritised for 296 sailors, who are stranded all over the world and were initially scheduled to fly in around December last year.
Samoa s Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, CEO. Agafili Tomaimano Shem Leo.
Photo: Samoa government
Chairman of the Center, Agafili Shem Leo, said more than 160 passengers from flights from New Zealand and Fiji on December 7 would need to have two negative final covid tests before they were released.
He also confirmed that 231 passengers on a flight from New Zealand 4 December had been released from quarantine last Friday, after all returning two negative covid tests.
Meanwhile a cargo flight from New Zealand which had been cancelled last Friday due to flooding at the airport arrived late on Saturday afternoon.
Agafili said after the stormy weather cleared and flooded areas of the airport were cleaned out.