There are 39 babies under the age of 4 amongst Samoa’s 1,040 active community cases. This is confirmed in the Ministry of Health’s latest daily update report issued Sunday morning. The age group below 5 years are more vulnerable because a covid-19 vaccine has not yet been approved for them. At the other end of the vulnerability scale, Samoa has 39 recorded cases of elderly, 65 years and above, though they can be fully vaccinated, and should be getting a booster after 3 months.
The latest report states there were 216 new community cases detected in the past 24 hours, taking the total positive cases detected to 1,057. Of the 1,057 confirmed community cases recorded, 1,040 remain active according to the latest report – the difference of 17 cases have fully recovered.
The number of tests conducted in the past 24 hours was not made known so the daily positivity rate could not be determined. There have, however, been 16,019 tests administered since the start of Samoa’s community outbreak 10 days ago. With 1,057 of those having tested positive, the overall positivity rate is therefore 6%. For progressive monitoring purposes, the daily rates are more useful.
There are no known clusters within the country, and the demographics given does not include locations or villages of the positive cases, however, Acting Director General of Health Tagaloa Dr Robert Thompsen said during a media conference on Saturday that the virus has pretty much been detected in all parts of Upolu.
The cases are therefore listed by island, with 1,028 cases confirmed in Upolu and 29 in Savaii. The islands of Manono and Apolima remain covid-19 free. The report states that 57% of confirmed community cases are female while 43% are male.
A look at the graph showing age group demographics confirms almost half the cases (49%) fall within the age groups of 15 to 35.
Over 90% of Samoa’s eligible adult population have been fully vaccinated, and the rollout of the vaccination program for children 12-17 years was the focus of the Ministry’s efforts before the end of the 2021 school year. The vaccination rollout for children 5-17 years was being rolled out when the community outbreak hit, however, first doses have been extremely successful. In Savaii this week, the first doses for 5-11 years was conducted by drive-thru, and within two days over 96% of children have had first doses as confirmed during the NEOC press conference Saturday.
Samoa is on code red alert level 3 lockdown until midnight Tuesday 5th April, unless otherwise amended by Cabinet. As indicated by Prime Minister Hon Fiame Naomi Mataafa, Government continues to monitor the situation as Samoa combats its first community outbreak since the global pandemic. Samoa closed its international borders two years ago in March 2020 with only approved repatriation flights permitted.
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