The first two COVID-19 positive cases identified in the Republic of the Marshall Islands are border cases, meaning they were caught upon entry and were quarantined away from the general population, according to the Republic of Marshall Islands National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.
The report from NDMO stated that the two individuals arrived on October 27 into the US Army Base in Kwajalein Atoll from Hawaii as part of the US Army ongoing repatriation effort and while in quarantine, they were tested positive for COVId-19. One of the cases is reported to have had the virus in late July while the second case is not known to have had the virus before.
Both individuals and the people that arrived with them on the same flight remain in strict quarantine while awaiting results of further tests from the two individuals.
The report assured that the cases were caught at the border and remain under strict quarantine with no community interaction and urged people of the Marshall Islands to remain calm and go about their business as usual without fear of local transmission.
Despite assurance, the news of the positive cases has raised alarms from some of the people in Marshall Islands who are against Marshalls government’s own repatriation effort which is expecting to receive the first 27 repatriated Marshallese from Hawaii this Saturday.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is one of the 12 countries in the world that had no recorded cases of COVID-19, and one out of 10 pacific island nations with no COVID-19 case. Recently, one of the 10 pacific island countries, Solomon Islands, recorded its first cases this month. That leaves 9 pacific island countries with no recorded cases until these reported border cases in the Marshall Islands.
First COVID-19 cases in Marshall Islands are border cases
