By Staff Writer
The scheduled flight this Friday 22 May 2020 to return home Samoans stranded in New Zealand since the coronavirus emergency lockdown started is delayed by a week.
Air New Zealand has re-scheduled the flight for next week on Friday, 29 May 2020.
About 150 Samoans were due on the flight from the selected list of more than 900 allowed to return home under special approval while the borders are still on lockdown to international travel.
The Director General of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, confirmed Newsline Samoa follow up inquiries last night of flight delay reports.
“I was informed of the Air New Zealand decision last night that they are not ready with their preparations for the flight,” Leausa was able to disclose but with little details of the passenger list.
“The flights and the people coming are being organized by the airline and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Strict health security conditions are in place for all returning travelers to meet before they board the flight home.
One involves all travelers to be certified by a medical doctor as free of the virus 3 days prior to making the trip to Samoa.
Leausa confirmed also that his public health task force had quarantine arrangements all set up for the arrivals as scheduled this Friday.
“We’ve already organized to divide the arrivals into groups of 10 for quarantine in selected locations closer to the hospitals for easier access if needed.
“The smaller groups would make it easier for the staff to care for and keep close watch under quarantine.”
The Director General, however, is able to breathe a little easier by the weeklong flight delay, as New Zealand reported zero new cases of infection in the past several days.
Leausa is hopeful that the longer New Zealand continues without any new confirmed cases the less risks of the virus reaching Samoa.
The re-scheduled flight this week is the first in a series of possibly up to 6 trips for the airline to fly everyone authorized to return to Samoa.
Citizens, who have overstayed their visas and staff workers in both the private and public sectors with work commitments at home, are on the priority list of those in the first flights to Samoa.
The Health Ministry is working through the Disaster Advisory Committee to carefully review the progress of all arrivals on quarantine, before approval of each successive flight.
Chairman of the Disaster Advisory Committee, Ulu Bismarck Crawley, assured in an earlier comment that the borders are still closed to allay jittery public concerns.
Ulu said they are determined to keep international border travel closed for as long as it takes to keep the country safe.
“Our borders are still closed except for these special flights to bring our people home.
“The pandemic is still with us and people are dying everyday in countries around the world where the virus continues to spread.”
The planned inbound flights for the stranded Samoans reverses an earlier series of Air New Zealand flights to return New Zealand travelers stranded in Samoa.
It is unclear if there are any stranded New Zealand travelers still left who may take advantage of the Air NZ flight next week to return home from Samoa.