A dozens of passengers on a flight tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, forcing Kiribati into lockdown for the first time since the pandemic began two years ago.
On Tuesday, the Kiribati government announced on its official Facebook page that 36 out of 54 passengers on a flight that had traveled from Fiji on January 14 had tested positive for the virus.
According to the statement, authorities have taken “all precautions” and are managing the passengers from when they entered pre-departure quarantine in Fiji to the moment they arrived in Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati.
Despite having a population of just 122,391, only three confirmed cases had been identified in Kirbati prior to last week’s flight. This is partly owing to strict entry restrictions during the pandemic and the island’s isolation. Kiribati is located 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) away from North America in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
South Tarawa and Beito, the main townships in Kiribati, will be under a 24-hour curfew beginning on Monday. Government officials advised residents to stay at home unless they had to leave for work or emergency services, or shop for food or other essential items.
During this time, there will be no public transportation, no social gatherings, and all bars and nightclubs will be closed. The curfew in Kiribati currently runs from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., and social gatherings are currently capped at 10 people per gathering. People are required to wear masks in public spaces, including on public transit.
Unlike many other Pacific nations, Kiribati and other Pacific islands were spared the worst of the pandemic when a number of states closed their borders to foreigners shortly after the virus broke out in late 2019.
The decision to impose a lockdown for a small number of cases is not unprecedented in the South Pacific. In November, Tonga declared a weeklong lockdown on Tongatapu after they discovered the country’s first Covid-19 case.
