SUVA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Samoa downgraded on Friday its COVID-19 alert level from level 2 to level 1 after four of the 31 active COVID-19 cases in the island nation have fully recovered.
Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa said that the two weeks of mandatory measures such as wearing masks became a norm and was necessary as part of the Samoan government's preventative measures, according to a local newspaper Samoa Observer.
She thanked the nation for the extensive support of the measures, which also included the closure of schools and the limit of public gatherings to 30 people.
School classes will be resumed across the country and the ban on children under 12 years of age from public places is to be lifted. The ban on nightclubs, bars and restaurants in the island nation has also been lifted under the level 1 alert.
She said that local travel by sea or air in Samoa has resumed while overseas travels is subject to cabinet endorsement.
The country was exposed to its biggest COVID-19 spike when infected passengers arrived from Brisbane, Australia last month.
Samoa reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in February last year. ■