© KEYSTONE/AP/Dean Purcell
The Pacific island nation of Samoa closed its borders on Friday and is preparing for a nationwide lockdown following the first case of local coronavirus transmission was detected.
“All schools will remain closed, (…) as will churches and other services, with the exception of essential services,” Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said in an address to the nation on Thursday evening, adding that public gatherings will also be prohibited.
A 29-year-old woman tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday on the main island of Upolu as she prepared to travel to Fiji, according to the Prime Minister.
Mrs. Naomi Mata’afa has issued a nationwide lockdown order for four days while the positive person’s whereregardings and contacts are traced.
The government also urgently suspended all international travel by air and sea.
The archipelago of around 200,000 inhabitants has been one of the few places to avoid local transmissions of the virus, and has recorded only 48 imported cases since the start of the pandemic.
About 90% of Samoa’s population has received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to government data.
