The two cases in Ra are still treated as community transmission, despite having no known link to other cases or international travel.

This has been confirmed by Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong who says they will restart the 14 days quarantine for the 96 individuals who got discharged from the Tanoa Hotel quarantine facility on the 12th of this month.

He says one of these cases may be the source of the outbreak in Ra.

The Ministry has managed to contact 93 of the 96 individuals and they will determine all these once the restarted quarantine periods are complete.

“At the Tanoa Hotel due to the breaches at the Border quarantine facility, there could have been infectious staff who transmitted the virus to individuals during their quarantine period. That means when we tested them at the quarantine we could have missed the soon to be positive patient.”

Dr Fong adds they will take this approach as one of these individuals who tested positive on Thursday has proven that point to be a valid concern.