The Ministry of Health (M.O.H.) has reported 126 new community cases in the last 24 hours to increase the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Samoa to 748.

The Government Press Secretariat, in its community transmission update released at 1.44am Friday to the local media, said Upolu continues to lead with 726 cases with 22 recorded in Savai'i.

Up until Thursday M.O.H. staff have administered a total of 14,433 rapid antigen tests (RATs) with those in the 15–39 age bracket recording the highest percentage of positive cases.

The smaller islands of Manono-Tai and Apolima-Tai are yet to record any cases of COVID-19 since the first community case was detected at the national hospital last Thursday.

There are currently eight (8) cases in the isolation ward at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital, Moto'otua with no cases in the hospital's intensive care unit as well as no deaths recorded.

The country is currently in its first week of a 14-day Alert Level 3 lockdown which the Government announced on Tuesday, in a bid to arrest the rising incidences of community transmission.

The increasing community transmission cases come on the back of revelations by M.O.H. staff – working out of the Malietoa Tanumafili II Hospital at Tuasivi in Savai’i – that over 5,000 children aged 5-11 were vaccinated with the paediatric Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday. The authorities hope to vaccinate over 9,000 children in Savai'i by Friday this week.

To reduce the risk of coronavirus infection M.O.H. staff set up drive-through vaccination sites in different parts of the big island for motorists to take their children to. They will go to the villages after after closing the mobile clinics and will work in partnership with the village councils.