Within a week, more than 10% of the capital’s residents were infected with the Omicron variant. The country had not previously detected any local transmission of the virus.
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Published on 08/15/2022 19:20
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It was one of the last countries in the world to be spared from Covid-19. The Marshall Islands declared a state of “sanitary disaster” on Monday (15 August) amid an explosion of Covid-19 cases in the capital Majuro.
In the city of 22,500, almost 2,800 people were infected with the Omicron variant in one week. The health minister warned that the epidemic “is even gaining strength” and that the number of cases doubled from Saturday to Sunday. “Almost 75% of those tested are positive, which is an incredibly high rate,” added the official, who announced that “we are now preparing for the most difficult phase of the epidemic in Majuro.”
Overall, the country has registered 3,000 positive cases and three deaths out of a population of 42,000. The President of the Marshall Islands, David Kabua, signed the
Among the possible explanations for these contaminations is the suspicion of the recent relaxation of quarantine rules and border closures, which the government wanted to abandon completely on October 1st. According to the Minister of Health, foreign health authorities should send auxiliary workers and health workers in the coming days.