Covid 19: Samoa to go into nationwide lockdown after Brisbane flight cases rise

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa making the announcement after an emergency Cabinet meeting this morning. Photo / Facebook

Samoa will move into a nationwide lockdown from 6pm today.

It comes after the number of confirmed Covid cases in quarantine off a flight from Brisbane on Wednesday increased from 10 to 15.

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa made the announcement after an emergency Cabinet meeting this morning, the Samoa Observer reports.

The passengers were on a flight from Brisbane carrying 73 people.

All were fully vaccinated and had tested negative for Covid-19 before departure.

The new cases are Samoa's largest group on one flight since the start of the pandemic.

Samoa's director-general of health Dr Take Naseri said yesterday all of the passengers who tested positive since arriving in Samoa had been put into isolation and all were asymptomatic.

Naseri said test samples would be sent to New Zealand on the first available flight to determine which variant of Covid-19 they are dealing with.

But he said given the situation in Australia they suspect it is the Omicron variant.

More to come.