After Micronesia last month, it is the turn of the Marshall Islands, one of the last countries in the world to be spared, to be affected by Covid-19.
The Marshall Islands have declared a state of health disaster after the contamination in one week of more than a tenth of the population of the capital Majuro by the variant of Covid-19 Omicron.
“We are preparing for the most difficult phase of the epidemic now in Majuro,” Health Minister Jack Niedenthal warned on Monday.
After a few local cases were confirmed on August 8, the number of infections soared to 2,800 in a city of 22,500.
Still according to the minister, the epidemic continues “to gain strength”, the number of cases having doubled between Saturday and Sunday.
A high positivity rate
“Nearly 75% of those tested are positive, which is an incredibly high rate,” he added.
“The good thing about having all these other countries that have had it before us is that we really understand how, from an epidemiological point of view, this virus variant spreads: like wildfire” , added Mr. Niedenthal.
Marshall Islands President David Kabua signed a "state of health disaster" on Friday to allow the government access to emergency funding.
In total, the country has recorded 3,000 positive cases and three deaths for a population of 42,000 inhabitants spread over the islands and atolls.
Since last Tuesday, domestic Air Marshall Islands flights and public ship transport to remote islands have been suspended in an effort to contain the outbreak.
Help coming from the United States
For local authorities, the arrival of the Covid-19 epidemic on the islands is explained in particular by the recent relaxation of quarantine rules and the unprecedented number of arrivals, while strict quarantine rules were up to here in force.
Moreover, the government had planned to open its borders and abandon the mandatory quarantine on arrival from October 1st.
According to Health Minister Jack Niedenthal, several agencies, including the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in the United States, are to send aid this week, including the reinforcement of health professionals.
Now only the state of Tuvalu is free of Covid-19 among the Pacific countries.
