(Xinhua) — Samoa extended the nationwide lockdown for another two weeks on Tuesday while the Ministry of Health (MOH) rolled out the vaccination for children and adults who have not been inoculated.
According to the Samoa Observer newspaper, Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa announced the extension of the Level 3 lockdown, indicating that there will be two days in the two-week period allowing people to replenish supplies and access essential services.
Due to the notice, the prime minister said the window from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time for people to access these essential services, including shops that will open for 6 hours, will start on March 23, March 26, March 29, April 2 and April 5.
The latest update from the MOH reported 66 new community cases by Monday, taking the number of active cases to 247 since the first community case was detected last Thursday.
“The surge in community cases was expected and will continue to increase due to the transmissibility of this virus,” said Fiame.
She said it is clear that vaccines are highly effective in protecting from severe disease.
“Unfortunately the tests conducted this week show some haven’t even started vaccination or not completed their two doses and this is of concern to all of us,” she said.
“In this connection, the Cabinet has considered the recommendation from Disaster Advisory Committee and thereby approved the continuation of Level 3 for another 14 days commencing from midnight March 22 : to April 5.”
The prime minister said all other services will close throughout the two weeks, allowing the MOH to lead testing for COVID-19 at screening sites, monitor current and emerging cases and rollout vaccination for children, youths and adults.
Samoa went into an Alert Level 2 lockdown on Friday last week which was then elevated to Alert Level 3 on Saturday.
