Kiribati Hospital.

Kiribati has recorded its highest daily increase in new COVID infections on Tuesday, bringing the total number of positive cases to 629.

The Health Ministry said there were 169 COVID -19 cases – 155 of them from South Tarawa, Betio and Buota and 14 in Butaritari.

The island nation Minister for Health warned the positive COVID-19 cases recorded in the country were just the “tip of the iceberg”.

The government has confirmed that Omicron is the dominant variant spreading across the islands.

The country has been in a state of lockdown since 22 January in an effort to minimise the spread of the virus, forcing the government to extend the state of the disaster until the end of this month.