The Samoa and Solomon Islands extended their lockdowns on Tuesday (January 25th) in the face of a Covid-19 pandemic that continues to worsen in isolated Pacific island nations, which had so far been spared the virus.
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Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said late Monday that the capital Honiara was affected by the coronavirus and extended the lockdown for four days in hopes of stemming the nationwide contagion.
"
I ask all residents living in the emergency zone to respect the lockdown and stay at home so that we can reduce transmission of the virus and control the current outbreak
," Manassheh Sogavare said in a speech on Monday.
Until last week, the country of 700,000 people had recorded no deaths and only 31 cases since the start of the pandemic.
But nearly 300 new cases have since been confirmed, and the actual numbers could be much higher amid limited testing capacity.
Other Pacific nations are experiencing similar accelerations.
The archipelago of Kiribati, where no case had been recorded since the start of the pandemic, declared a confinement after dozens of passengers on a flight from the Fiji Islands, the first to land on this archipelago from the reopening of the borders, had tested positive for Covid-19.
In Palau, which has just over 18,000 inhabitants, the number of cases has doubled to nearly 600 in three days.
Vaccination rates in the region vary widely.
As of January 13, 264,085 doses had been administered in the Solomon Islands, while Palau had a vaccination rate of almost 100%.
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Samoa has extended a nationwide lockdown until Thursday evening after cases linked to a repatriation flight from Australia last week continued to rise.
New Zealand has also tightened health restrictions since the Omicron variant began to spread there.
Tonga, which is struggling to recover from this month's devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami, has so far been spared the virus.
But Australian authorities revealed on Tuesday that 23 cases had been detected among the crew of the military ship HMAS Adelaide, which is heading to the capital Nuku'alofa with rescue equipment.
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said the ship would remain at sea while experts assess the situation.
