Close to 300 passengers will arrive on Friday’s repatriation flight from Auckland, New Zealand including 201 Recognised Seasonal Employees (R.S.E.).

Some 35 people who transited through Aotearoa from the United States, Australia and Rome will also be on the same flight. And there will be three additional flights next month, arriving in the country on the 4, 5 and 25 of June.

The flights on 4 and 5 June are flying in from New Zealand and the 25 June flight has been chartered from Australia.

No flights have been scheduled for July, National Emergency Operations Centre (N.E.O.C.) Chair Agafili Shem Leo told reporters during a press conference in Moto'otua on Thursday afternoon.

“This will be our last flight for the month of May,” he said of the 28 May flight. “There will be a flight from New Zealand on 4 June and a charter flight from Australia arriving on 5 June. 

"The flight on 25 June will be the last flight. There are no flights scheduled for July.”

Flights from Auckland will be halted in July because that is when the New Zealand government will begin their mass vaccination campaign and no travel will be allowed to Samoa, he explained.

The travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia has been cancelled due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Australia, Agafili added.

People in New Zealand who want to travel will be required to receive their vaccination shots.

Most of the inbound travellers have already been vaccinated, Agafili said.

Samoa is currently in discussions with the American Samoa Government on a travel bubble to allow at least one flight a week from Samoa to American Samoa.

Currently, only cargo from Samoa is allowed into Pago Pago, once every two weeks.

Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, Director-General at the Ministry of Health (M.O.H.) said Samoa must remain vigilant with its travel restrictions and vaccinations, noting that a strong variant of COVID-19 has hit Fiji.

Consequently, Fiji is now under a lockdown. As of Monday, 27 May, Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr. James Fong said there have been 238 cases during the current outbreak and 149 active cases, reports Fiji Times.

Dr. Fong said the ministry has recorded a total of 308 cases since March of last year with 155 recoveries and four deaths.