Covid spreads in Kiribati as first flight in 10 months brings pandemic to island nation
The island nation of Kiribati had kept the Covid-19 pandemic at bay given its isolated location. But now the island has gone into lockdown after many passengers from the first international flight in 10 months tested Covid positive on arrival. Kiribati sealed its borders 10 months ago and then reopened the country this month until 36 people on a flight from Fiji tested positive. Until last week, Kiribati had two Covid cases.
Kiribati is a remote island nation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a population of around 122,000. During the entire COVID-19 pandemic, the island nation managed to not have a single positive case until Wednesday, January 19. Kiribati has declared a state of disaster, mandated precautionary guidelines, people on the island have been told to stay inside their homes, and social gatherings are prohibited.
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There are 33% of Kiribati citizens who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Before Kiribati closed its borders, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chartered a plane to bring back home 54 of Kiribati’s citizens. Most of the travelers who came back were missionaries who had left Kiribati to spread the faith abroad before the country decided to seal its borders under the Covid-19 precautionary norms. Officials tested each returning passenger three times and ensured that they were fully vaccinated, and put them in quarantine with additional testing when they arrived back home.
President Taneti Maamau posted on Facebook, "The only way that we can fight this virus is through complete vaccination. The public is urged to complete their vaccination doses to protect themselves and families."
The isolated island nation now has a total of 201 cases and now the virus is fast spreading from the capital, Tarawa, to Butaritari, an outer island located 186 km to the north.
Dr Tabutoa Eria, a doctor from the island, wrote on Facebook that medical teams would no longer conduct community testing as the critical resources are running low.
“We are reserving our testing kits and other resources for patients who have underlying conditions because they will be hit hardest from the virus,” said Eria.