The Northern Marianas has recorded its first community transmission of Covid-19 in 204 days.
A Covid-19 vaccination site on Saipan in the Northern Marianas. January 2021. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Mark Rabago
The latest case had returned a positive result on Friday after undergoing community screening for travellers returning to the island.
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp said the individual was asymptomatic and close contacts will also be tested.
The CNMI has 147 Covid with 120 identified through travel screening and 27 local transmissions.
The latest case comes amid Governor Ralph Torres' renewal of the Declaration of State of Public Health Emergency and Continued Declaration of a State of Significant Emergency he enacted soon after the CNMI recorded its first positive case in March, 2020.
The twin declarations direct the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, the CNMI Homeland Security & Emergency Management Office and all other necessary Commonwealth agencies to undertake containment measures as necessary to meet the threat of Covid-19.
Torres said Covid continued to pose a significant and imminent threat of harm to the community, environment, and the people of CNMI.
He said emergency declarations were necessary to respond, quarantine and ensure the prevention and containment of Covid in the CNMI.
