By Staff Writer
Samoa is no longer in the Coronavirus-free list after a positive preliminary test on a returning Samoa seafarer/sailor was picked up and circulated widely by the global media.
But the test results are inconclusive after follow up tests came out negative.
The Ministry of Health CVOID-19 team were working on a final test with the results due in yesterday.
So too were official findings from health specimen sent to New Zealand last Friday for laboratory tests.
As of printing time last night no official results were available except for an official media statement that the test results from New Zealand are yet to come in.
The Director General of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, in a late afternoon press conference last Thursday, said the emphasis now is to verify the positive findings that came out earlier.
The new tests will prove conclusively whether it was a TRUE or FALSE positive – a health term now part of the coronavirus pandemic language.
The seafarer who has tested positive arrived last Friday on a repatriation flight from New Zealand on his way home from Italy where he was on work contract.
He was one of 274 Samoans who flew in from New Zealand.
The Director General confirmed that the seafarer met all the local health requirements on his return.
He carried medical documents to prove he was tested negative and showed no worrying symptoms before he left Europe.
He was also tested negative on arrival before locating to a quarantine site for 14 days of required isolation.
Under standard health security procedures he was again tested 5 days into his quarantine stay last Wednesday night and the results came up positive.
“More tests were needed to re-confirm the results so we had to rest him up to 4 -6 hours before we checked again in the morning which turned out negative,” Leausa Dr. Naseri revealed to the local media.
Another test followed and again it turned out negative.
The Director General said the health team went over the testing process to check for any technical errors that may have been made and found none.
Leausa said they have gone as far as to follow up with the health officials in Italy to learn if he was sick during his time there.
“We want to know if he was sick and if it is possible for him to have developed antibodies to counter the virus.”
The seafarer is now isolated at the TTM National Hospital Compound in an old section of the hospital that has been sealed off.
Police and health security officers are duty to keep the public out.
Leausa said the suspected seafarer is walking around and eating well and talking on the phone to his family to assure them he is doing well.
“The disease is diagnosed inside the quarantine site where none of the general public is exposed except for the health staff who wear protective gear to minimise the risks of catching the virus.
“ The health staff are also quarantined basically for the safety of their families, so overall we are still well protected in Samoa.”
Meanwhile the Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, has announced no major changes to the State of Emergency that has been in place since last March.
An emergency Cabinet meeting called on the same day the positive test results were announced decided to keep doing what we have been doing so far.
The remaining repatriation flights from New Zealand and possibly Fiji are going ahead as well as the direct flight from Los Angeles expected at the end of the week.
Schools are also going ahead with their planned end of year prize giving, but still mindful of social distancing and other State of Emergency health security requirements.