Ministry of Health

Acting director general of health, Tagaloa Dr Robert Thomsen, said the numbers of people with the flu are those who have sought help from doctors or hospitals in the past three weeks.

Dr Thomsen expects a surge in cases once Samoa's border opens to international travellers from August 1st.

He said the presence of dengue fever has also been recorded in Samoa - with six cases confirmed in June - but he doesn't think Samoa will experience an outbreak.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that the new statistics has taken the number of cases (community and border) to 15,178 to date.

MOH also reported that there are two patients isolated at the Moto’otua National Hospital and none in the Intensive Care Unit.

The Ministry said, “In strengthening our defense against the virus, the public is kindly reminded to remain vigilant and adhere to public health advice by continuing to wear facial masks, complying with social distancing, stay home and isolate if one feels unwell, and maintain good personal hygiene at all times.”

The Health Ministry's latest report said 14,315 cumulative cases had been recorded for border and community cases, with eight in managed isolation.

The total number of Covid-19 positive cases admitted to hospital since community transmission on March 17, is 278 admissions and of those, 238 have been discharged home.

The Health Ministry continued to stress vaccination remains the best defense against severe effects of the virus.

Fully vaccinated people are the only ones that are given the green light to use the outpatient facility at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital.

MOH released a statement stating: "The general public is also reminded that as part of our ongoing national campaign against COVID19, we will be enforcing strict entry only to those outpatient cases who have completed both doses of their vaccination (Pfizer or AstraZeneca).”

"It is also compulsory to wear a mask when entering the hospital at all times.”

The Ministry of Health confirmed 96 per cent or 117,020 of the eligible population got their first shot of the vaccine just before the Christmas holiday kicked in. 

“A total of 86 per cent or 104,827 have received both doses of the vaccine, which is well short of the Government's target to get more than 90 per cent of the eligible population fully immunised.”

The ministry’s data on the Pfizer vaccine shows a total of 6,817 members of the eligible population are yet to be fully vaccinated. 

Samples sequenced by the Ministry of Healtth and the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, were determined to be Omicron , the latest COVID-19 variant in circulation around the world.

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong said Fiji has community transmission of both Omicron and Delta variants throughout the country.

He added that it explains the high number of cases recorded recently given the high transmissibility of the variant.

Health experts are warning it will become the dominant variant.

The changes were made by the Ministry of Health, yesterday.

Members of the public are advised that there will be a merger of the outpatients and emergency services at the Hospital.

The merger will commence from the Christmas weekend and continue until Monday 10th January 2022.

All general outpatients will be seen within the ground floor of the Moto’otua TTM Hospital Emergency Building, where the current Paediatric Clinic is located.

The graduates completed nursing and midwifery training.

The Ministry of Health’s Assistant C.E.O. for Nursing and Midwifery, Momoti Ulisese Tapuvae, said seven nurses graduated with a diploma while 70 graduated with a bachelor's degree. 

"And all of these nurses will be allocated to the areas with demand and also they will replace a number of nurses who have left the job because of other opportunities overseas and also with the theological college and other areas of nursing like the National University of Samoa and other private sectors.”

The Ministry of Health’s Director General Leausa Dr. Take Naseri said the targeted number of children aged between 12 to 17 to receive the vaccine is between 27,000 to 30,000.

Leausa announced the plan to move the vaccine campaign into schools last week. 

He said the vaccination schedule was developed based on the dates on which first and second doses of the vaccination are due to be administered. 

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong said this will involve a three- day stay in a hotel with a test to be done on day two.

A negative result will allow for discharge into the community on day three.

Dr Fong also said  incoming travel from today will be restricted to diplomats, returning residents, permit holders, and those approved by the Covid 19 Risk Mitigation Taskforce.

The Border Risk Reduction Protocol Processes will be trialed during this time and further refined in preparation for the 1st of December.