Once a safe haven, the remote Marshall Islands become COVID-19 hotbed
Marshall Islands received a donation of protective equipment from Taiwan earlier this month.
After dodging the COVID-19 epidemic for two years, the Marshall Islands is now struggling to stop the infection's spread, which has tripled since the first community transmissions were discovered a week ago.
With four deaths linked to Covid and seven hospital admissions, the number of positive cases in the country in the north Pacific, which has a population of roughly 60,000, has soared to more than 3,000.
According to the health secretary, Jack Niethendal, 1,000 instances were reported in Majuro on Sunday, which is "nearly double from the previous day."
In the Samoan village of Tuanaimato, near Apia, health workers launch the COVIDvaccination campaign.
As reported by the Guardian, The Pacific islands have seen an explosion in the number of cases despite being COVID-free for two years.
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Almost 70% of the peoplein the Marshall Islands who are six months of age and older have received vaccinations. The isolated country managed to remain COVID-free until two visitors from the US tested positive in October 2020. However, until this month there had not been a community transmission.
The Marshall Islands' constrained healthcare system is being further strained by the growing population, leading the ministry to recall COVID-positive healthcare staff back to work in order to maintain facilities.
Niedenthal stated in a Facebook update that other healthcare professionals tested positive on Sunday.
“I saw a few negative complaints on social media regarding the idea that we are asking our healthcare workers to return to work if they are only experiencing mild symptoms,” he said. However, he said the public health agency was left with no other option. “You can’t have healthcare if you don’t have healthcare workers.”
One of the first nations to prohibit incoming planes was the Marshall Islands, which did so on March 8, 2020, a few days before the World Health Organization announced a global epidemic.
(With inputs from agencies)