Fear and dread: Covid-free for two years, Pacific islands experience explosion in case numbers

Health workers vaccinate a woman in Tuanaimato in Apia, Samoa. Previously Covid-free island nations in the Pacific have experienced their first outbreaks of the virus in the past three weeks. Photograph: Chikara Yoshida/Getty Images

Covid-free for almost two years, some Pacific island nations are suddenly struggling with an explosion in cases as the virus, thought in most cases to be the more transmissible variant Omicron, breaches the defences they had so successfully put up since the beginning of the pandemic.

Kiribati, Samoa, Palau and Solomon Islands have all experienced outbreaks within the last three weeks. The countries have approached the arrival of the virus with different strategies, some imposing lockdowns while others rely on their high levels of vaccination for protection.