By Skelding
A remote island nation in the Pacific Ocean entered lockdown on Saturday after dozens of passengers on an inbound flight tested positive for COVID-19.
The stay-at-home order is the first of the pandemic for residents of Kiribati, home to about 100,000, which until now had recorded just two COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, the BBC reported.
Thirty-six people on a plane from Fiji – the first international flight in almost a year – tested positive, infecting at least four in Kiribati. All passengers were fully-vaccinated.
Under the lockdown, people are restricted to their homes except for emergencies or critical work, bars and restaurants are closed, public transport is shut down, and social gatherings are banned, the government said in a Facebook post.
“There is now an assumption that COVID-19 is now spreading in the community,” the government said in the post. “People MUST stay at home.”
