Cook Islands Premier Mark Brown announced that the small nation is preparing for its first cases of community transmission of COVID-19 after an infected traveler visited the country,
The nation, located in the South Pacific, had so far not experienced any cases of COVID-19 in its community.
The first is about a traveler from New Zealand who spent eight days in the community and tested positive for Omicron when he returned to his country last week, Brown said in an official statement.
“It is likely that the person was infectious while they were here and it is more likely that the virus is in our community,” he said.
The person was tested on Sunday after learning that a family member who was a close contact had tested positive in New Zealand the day before. The individual was asymptomatic and was in isolation and under observation on Sunday in private holiday accommodation, the prime minister added.
The paradisiacal archipelago was one of the few countries that was still free of COVID-19.
The prime minister clarified that the person who tested positive is vaccinated and said government officials are contact tracing to track the person’s movements since arriving on Rarotonga, the archipelago’s largest island, and determine possible close contacts.
“There may be ‘silent transmission,’ where our high vaccination rate is so protective that people get COVID but so lightly that they don’t realize they have it,” the prime minister said.
Official data shows that 99.6% of the island nation’s roughly 17,000 people aged 12 and over are double-dose vaccinated, and 70% of those eligible have received their booster shots.
The Cook Islands resumed quarantine-free travel with New Zealand a month ago, after cutting itself off from the world when the pandemic hit in early 2020.
In December, the country reported a case of COVID-19 in a 10-year-old boy in quarantine after arriving on a repatriation flight, who was not exposed to the community.
“The fact that we have a high percentage of our people vaccinated will give us substantial protection against serious disease,” Brown said.
“I understand that some of you may feel scared or anxious, but rest assured that all branches of our government are working together to address this situation and protect us all,” Brown said.
“We expected this virus, we have prepared for it and we are ready to fight it,” he added.
The Sand Islands are a self-governing parliamentary democracy but coordinate with New Zealand on international affairs. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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