SUVA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Samoa will start a full lockdown on Saturday after a COVID-19 community case was confirmed in the South Pacific island nation, a local newspaper reported Thursday.
The positive community case was detected by a test required for travel, said Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, according to the Samoa Observer.
Fiame said Samoa will move to Alert Level 2 at 12:00 a.m. local time on Friday (1100 GMT Thursday) and will then shift to Level 3 from 12:00 a.m. local time on Saturday (1100 GMT Friday), which entails a nationwide lockdown for seven days.
All schools, nightclubs and church services will close effective from Friday while the Ministry of Health embarks contract tracing and the cabinet will advise the public at the end of the seven-day lockdown on the next course of action, she added.
Samoa reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in February last year. ■