Students will have to wait to get home
The Solomon Islands government is holding back on repatriating its students from Fiji after more of them tested positive for Covid-19.
In a national address, prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, said 22 students and dependents have so far tested positive for the virus.
The Fijian authorities said 13 of those are active cases, which Mr Sogavare describes as extremely worrying.
He said there were 850 Solomon Islanders studying in Fiji, just over 50 of whom had graduated and were ready to return home.
But the Prime minister also said Fijian health officials are unsure when it will be safe to do so.
The Sinalei resort which has been shuttered until the re-opening of borders.
Photo: Dominic Godfrey / RNZ Pacific
While the tragedy of the measles epidemic of 2019 prepared the country to act fast and avert another health crisis, it couldn t prepare them for an economic one.
A year into the pandemic and Samoa is one of a handful of countries to remain free of community transmission of the coronavirus.
It was also one of the first countries to close its borders which helped prevent Covid-19 s entry according to the country s Director General of Health, Leausa Dr Take Naseri, who said, with grief from the measles epidemic still fresh, the whole country rallied.
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.