Acting Prime Minister Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio has confirmed the extension of the Country’s State of Emergency Order for another month.
To date, since the first recorded community case, on 17 March 2022 the confirmed number of infected people have increased to 14,901, of which 14,776 are community cases, and 125 are imported cases.
“Only one patient is currently monitored in the isolation ward and none in the Intensive Care Unit. On June, 20 th 2022, regrettably, a one-year-old female died from complications relating to COVID 19. She is our first baby to die from the virus, taking our cumulative number of deaths to 29.
“Our Government once again offer its sincerest condolences to the families of the lost loved ones to COVID 19. We continue to pray for the comforting of the Holy Spirit, for the affected families,” said the Acting Prime Minister.
A statement issued noted the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, showed a downward trend in new infectious, as reported for the period 19-26 June 2022, 129 people were infected.
He said the drive for full vaccination and close observation of all health care measures, coordinated by the Ministry of Health and in close collaboration with the Disaster Advisory Committee, development, districts and villages across
Samoa is producing anticipated results, as evidently shown in the decline in the number of people affected by
COVID 19.
“For this, we continue to praise and honour God for His faithfulness, mercy and grace over Samoa.” Adding that a total of 153,386 COVID tests have been administered and testing is continuing at all the health
centres and hospitals.
“The booster vaccination of 12 to 17 years old has started, as well as the second booster for 18 years old and above. Vaccination remains our best defence against the severe complications of COVID 19.
“We, therefore, continue to encourage all those who continue to doubt vaccination and have not done or
completed their vaccination, including a booster, to visit the nearest hospital to get vaccinated. We are
close to acquiring full herd immunity for Samoa, to protect our families and especially the under 5-year-olds, who are not yet eligible for COVID 19 vaccines.”
He said as widely reported, Samoa will reopen its borders for International travels from 1 st August, 2022 and the
Ministry of Health continues to lead the coordination of safety and health regulations for travellers to
Samoa.
The Government continues to encourage the observation of health measures as surety of the safety of
our country.
“In this regard, Cabinet has approved the continuation of Samoa under alert level 1 (yellow) for the next
four weeks, commencing from midnight of 28 June to midnight of 26 July, 2022.
Cabinet has also approved the following Health Travel Advice for arriving passengers in Samoa.
- All passengers are required to wear face masks at all times;
- All passengers must fill in the arrival Health declaration form on flight and provide a local phone
number and email/Facebook address; All passengers arriving in Samoa with a negative test are NOT required to home quarantine; - All passengers arriving in Samoa are encouraged to take precautionary and preventive measures
within the first few days of arrival; - All passengers arriving in Samoa are to arrange and have a supervised Rapid Antigen Test (RAT)
done at any health facility on day 5 and report results to MOH on the email provided on the MOH
website; - All passengers with a POSITIVE test after five days must home isolate for 7 days from the date
tested positive with a repeat test done on day 7.”
Tuala pointed out that efforts in protecting Samoa shall continue and therefore calls for the support and assistance of
everyone.
“Most essential to our joint effort is preventing Samoa from new infections, protecting our families and loved ones. As such, we continue to pray for God’s favour, guidance and protection of our nation.
“We call on our people to continue respecting health measures of protection as we gradually welcome the rest of the world to our home – Samoa.”
