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Samoa and Vanuatu have recorded their first Covid-19 related deaths.
Samoa's Ministry of Health confirmed a 67-year-old with multiple ailments died shortly after he was admitted to the Lalomanu District hospital on Upolu Island on Wednesday.
The death comes 13 days after the first community transmission case was detected.
The ministry said 172 new cases had been reported as of Thursday afternoon.
This brings the number of community cases recorded since March 17 to 1831 of which 1408 are active community cases.
Ministry data shows that 101 children under five have tested positive but the prevalence of infections is significantly higher among those aged from 15 to 35 and steadily increasing.
The ministry confirmed 20,643 rapid antigent tests had been administered since the first case was detected.
About 97 percent of community cases are in Upolu with the remaining 3 percent in Savaii.
There are no community cases recorded for the islands of Manono and Apolima Tai.
Vanuatu In Vanuatu, Minister of Health Bruno Lengkon confirmed the deaths of a 22-year-old woman and a five-year-old boy.
While Mr Lengkon has not confirmed whether the Port Vila woman had been vaccinated, he says investigations are continuing. A total of 341 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, including 287 on Efate island in Shefa province and 54 on Santo island in Sanma province.
That brings the total number of confirmed cases since the beginning of 2022 to 3,128. There are six people in hospital in Port Vila - all are in stable condition. Meanwhile, the first 20,000 AstraZeneca vaccines have been destroyed after they expired. The Ministry of Health says they arrived on time but were not used soon enough. It's being reported that there remains a lot of hesitation to become vaccinated, especially in the capital.
