Lockdown extended

It was due to end last night.

It has also decided to relax many of the current bans by extending trading hours from 6am to 8pm Monday to Saturday.

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa said the cabinet has also decided to lift the ban on alcohol sales but only in hotels, bars, restaurants and licensed premises.

With the extended opening hours, Cabinet has also approved Sunday trading, but from 12noon until 8pm.

The extension was announced by Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa yesterday.

There are 182 new community cases taking the total number of active community cases to 1,239.

Fiame said 97 percent of these cases are based in Upolu and three per cent.

There are no cases in the Intensive Care Unit.

“Most of the cases that were isolated in isolation wards at Motootua after developing mild symptoms have been discharged.”

Fiame also said that 70,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive this afternoon.

The number of coronavirus cases remains at 26.

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa announced the extension on a live stream from her office, adding the extra 24 hours would allow the Ministry of Health to complete the next set of tests for all 26 cases as well as the remaining passengers from the Brisbane flight.

They also hope to retest on Thursday all frontline workers who have been quarantined since the discovery of the positive cases.

Results should be known by Thursday afternoon or early Friday morning.

The decision was announced after talks involving medical experts, the French High Commission, the government and the customary Senate.

The extension was the second time that a week had been added to the original lockdown declared on 19 March.

From 20 April the emergency measures will be changed, with details of what will be eased to be announced in the course of next week.

The customary Senate had been in favour of extending the restrictions for longer while some leaders in the mainly Kanak Loyalty Islands province asked for the terms of confinement to be relaxed.