{"id":328450,"date":"2021-08-21T11:16:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T08:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/palau-loses-virus-free-status-with-first-covid-cases\/"},"modified":"2021-08-21T11:16:41","modified_gmt":"2021-08-21T08:16:41","slug":"palau-loses-virus-free-status-with-first-covid-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/palau-loses-virus-free-status-with-first-covid-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"#Palau loses virus-free status with first COVID cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Palau loses virus-free status with first COVID cases<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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The tiny Pacific nation of Palau reported its first cases of coronavirus Saturday, losing its prized status as one of the world’s few COVID-free countries as authorities app<\/a>ealed for calm.\n <\/p>\n

Two travel<\/a>lers, who tested positive after arriving from Guam, have been placed in quarantine along with their known contacts.<\/p>\n

“We urge everyone to remain calm,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement after deciding against imposing lockdown measures.<\/p>\n

With more than 80 percent of the 18,000 population fully vaccinated, President Surangel Whipps insisted the remote island state “has been COVID-free but is now COVID-safe”. <\/p>\n

Until Saturday Palau was just one of fourteen countries in the world that had recorded no virus cases at all, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

The Health Ministry would not say how many contacts were in isolation but a spokesman told AFP they did not believe there had been any community transmission. <\/p>\n

Whipps added if anyone who has been fully vaccinated does become infected “it will be just like a flu or they won’t show symptoms at all.” <\/p>\n

The infected travellers tested negative 72 hours before departure but were positive when they had a compulsory test five days after arrival.<\/p>\n

Palau protocols demand that in the first five days after arriving, people wear masks and avoid crowds.<\/p>\n

The country is not able to determine which strain of the coronavirus the new cases are and a sample has been sent to the United States for analysis.<\/p>\n

Palau, situated about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) east of the Philippines, was one of the few countries to avoid COVID-19 after closing its borders early in the pandemic, despite the huge cost to its tourism-reliant economy. <\/p>\n

Most of the other countries on the WHO’s virus-free list are also small island nations in the Pacific, bar North Korea and Turkmenistan\u2014both of whose assertions of zero cases have long been doubted by analysts. <\/p>\n

In an attempt to kickstart its tourism industry, Palau opened a quarantine-free travel bubble with Taiwan in April.<\/p>\n

It closed a month later when Taiwan experienced a spike in virus cases and reopened last week with any unvaccinated tourists jabbed on arrival.<\/p>\n

A COVID-19 case that was reported in Palau in May is no longer listed by the WHO because the symptoms detected were considered historical and posed no transmission risk.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Palau records first coronavirus case but says no infection risk\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Palau loses virus-free status with first COVID cases (2021, August 21)
\n retrieved 21 August 2021
\n from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news<\/a>\/2021-08-palau-virus-free-status-covid-cases.html<\/p>\n

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