COVID Arrives in One of the Last Places Without It

COVID Arrives in One of the Last Places Without It

When the coronavirus began spreading around the world, the island nation of Kiribati closed its borders. That meant the disease did not reach the remote country in the Pacific for nearly two years.

Kiribati finally began reopening this month, letting a plane carrying 54 of its citizens to return. Many of those on the plane were religious workers from the Mormon Church. They had left Kiribati before the border closure to spread the church's teachings in other countries.

Officials tested each returning passenger three times in nearby Fiji. They were required to be vaccinated¹ and stay in quarantine with additional testing when they arrived home.

The measures were not enough.

More than half the passengers tested positive for the virus, which has now spread into the community. The government has declared a state of disaster. And what began as 36 positive cases from the flight increased to 181 cases by Friday.

Kiribati and several other small Pacific nations were among the last places on the planet to have avoided any virus outbreaks. They have little contact because of their remote locations and strict border controls. But their defenses appear to be ineffective against the highly contagious² Omicron variant³.

Before this month's outbreak, Kiribati had reported just two virus cases. They were crew members on a ship that officials did not permit to dock.

Helen Petousis-Harris is a vaccine⁴ expert at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She said the spread of the virus could not be avoided. "It's a matter of buying enough time to prepare and getting as many people vaccinated as possible," she added.

Only 33 percent of Kiribati's 113,000 people are fully⁵ vaccinated. A scientific publication, Our World in Data, reports that 59 percent have had at least one shot of the vaccine. And like many other Pacific nations, Kiribati offers only basic health services.

Dr. Api Talemaitoga leads a network of Indigenous⁶ Pacific Island doctors in New Zealand. He said Kiribati had only two intensive care beds in the entire nation. In the past, the nation would send its sickest patients to Fiji or New Zealand for treatment. He said he is concerned about how Kiribati's health system will handle the outbreak.

Kiribati has now opened several quarantine areas, declared a curfew, and restricted movement. President Taneti Maamau said on social media that the government is using all its resources to deal with the situation and urged people to get vaccinated.

Other island nations

In October, another religious worker also brought the first and only case, so far, of COVID-19 to Tonga, an island nation over 2,000 kilometers southwest of Kiribati. He was vaccinated and quarantined following his return from Africa and New Zealand.

As Tonga is trying to prevent an outbreak, a strong volcanic⁷ explosion and tsunami⁸ destroyed the country earlier this month.

The nation of 105,000 people has since received aid from around the world. Crews from incoming military ships and planes must drop their supplies and leave without having any contact with those on the ground.

Petousis-Harris, the vaccine expert, said, "Anything they can do to keep it out is going to be important." COVID would just make that disaster worse, she added.

In the long term, however, it is going to be impossible to stop the virus from entering Tonga or any other community, Petousis-Harris said.

Nearby Samoa, with a population of 205,000, is also trying to prevent its first outbreak. It restricted movement after 15 passengers on a plane from Australia last week tested positive. By Thursday, that number had grown to 27, including five front-line nurses who had treated the passengers.

Fishing will be permitted

While the appearance of the virus has caused restrictions⁹, there were signs that not all traditional qualities of island life would be lost for long.

Kiribati declared on Thursday people could return to fishing. But only four people will be permitted "to be on a boat or part of a group fishing near shore."

Words in This Story

For more of the words related to COVID, see The Language of an International Health Crisis

remote – adj. far away, distant

church – n. a particular Christian¹⁰ group

quarantine - n. the period of time during which a person or animal that has a disease or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading

positive – adj. showing the presence of a particular germ, condition, or substance

location – n. a place or position

contagious – adj. capable of being easily spread to others

dock – n. an area of water in a port where ships are loaded, unloaded, or repaired

shore – n. the land along the edge of an area of water (such as an ocean, lake, or the like)

1 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

2 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

3 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

4 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

7 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

8 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。