By Staff Writer
Local health officials have sharpened up on the monitoring of travellers quarantined around urban Apia since a community transmitted COVID-19 case popped up in New Zealand this week.
The number of new carriers in New Zealand infected, when the virus passed from person to person within the community, stands at 17 as of today with 13 new sick ones added all in South Auckland.
There is a large concentration of Samoans in South Auckland and it is the reason for the extra attention by local health officials.
More than 300 new arrivals on a repatriation flight from New Zealand last weekend, are currently held in mandatory 14 days isolation for monitoring.
“The first lot who arrived in an earlier flight have already been cleared after serving time in quarantine,” Newsline Samoa learned from a senior health official.
The new virus case in New Zealand is a person-to-person or community transmission in South Auckland, where Samoans make up a large Pacific Is. population.
The new virus carrier ended a 100 days COVID-19 free run for New Zealand after adopting strict border travel restrictions similar to Samoa.
Most of the recent arrivals from New Zealand were stranded RSE workers flown home on chartered flights, after the borders lockdown under the State of Emergency in Samoa.
The lockdown restrictions are being slowly eased inside the country whereas it continues for international travel at the borders.
The only exception are repatriation flights allowed mainly on the route between Samoa and New Zealand.
Fiji was included with a weekend flight between the Faleolo International Airport and Nadi.
The majority of stranded arrivals are isolated in selected hotels around Apia with others allowed home quarantine, depending on health approval.
The only notable exception were more than a 100 RSE workers permitted to be isolated at a community hall at their home village at Poutasi, Falealili.