Pacific’s Micronesia records first Covid-19 case

The remote Pacific nation of Micronesia recorded its first case of COVID-19 on Monday, ending its shuffle as sensible a number of the few areas on Earth without the coronavirus.

President David Panuelo acknowledged the pattern become as soon as “alarming” for the country’s 100,000 inhabitants nonetheless mentioned the case had been contained on the border.

“For this cause, residents all the way thru the nation ought to remain peaceful,” he mentioned in a televised contend with.

“Attain no longer fright since the world is contained.”

Panuelo mentioned the sure take a look at got right here from a crewman on a govt ship “Chief Mailo”, which had been in the Philippines present process repairs.

He mentioned the individual and his colleagues remained on the vessel, which become as soon as anchored in a lagoon below spherical-the-clock surveillance.

“We stay in what we call COVID-situation-four, which implies that colleges, churches, and companies of all kinds are soundless originate,” he added.

A long way-flung Pacific island international locations had been amongst the most a success on this planet at keeping out the virus after closing their borders early basically basically based on the possibility, no matter the massive value to tourism-reliant economies.

Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, Samoa and now Micronesia dangle lost their virus-free station, even though none need to this level reported neighborhood transmission.

The island international locations and territories of Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Tonga and Tuvalu are believed to soundless be freed from the coronavirus.

The cautious come adopted in the Pacific islands become as soon as attributable to fears they are in particular inclined on account of of unhappy hospital infrastructure and high rates of underlying properly being prerequisites equivalent to obesity and coronary heart illness.

© 2021 AFP