Samoa's National Emergency Operations Committee says 70 people are now in isolation at quarantine sites after being possible contacts of a man who escaped from quarantine and moved about freely before being caught.
Chairman of the committee, Agafili Shem Leo, says the man had taken a taxi into town, visited his family, a wholesale store, and a telephone company before being apprehended by police at a Western Union outlet.
The man's entire family have now been placed in quarantine along with others identified mainly through video surveillance footage.
Agafili says the committee has advised the government to delay planned repatriation flights as the quarantine sites are filling out with locals who have been in contact with the escapee.
Source:
RNZ Pacific