The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas has confirmed another positive case of Covid-19.
This latest positive brings the islands' total to 59 cases and the person was identified by travel screening and tested upon arrival.
The Governor's Covid-19 Task Force said the individual was safely in quarantine and has been moved to the designated isolation area for close monitoring.
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation has already initiated contact tracing for the most immediate contacts of the new confirmed case.
The Commonwealth has no confirmed community transmission since cases 50 and 54, allowing Governor Ralph Torres to ease temporary restrictions imposed two weeks ago to curb the spread of the coronavirus locally.
CNMI Governor Ralp DLG Torres. Photo: Office of the Governor of CNMI
The Northern Marianas has downgraded Covid-19 alert levels, easing restrictions of social gatherings and business hours.
Temporary restrictions were triggered by two confirmed cases of community transmission in late August.
Governor Torres said community transmission does not appear to be widespread, and restrictions can be eased and public parks and beaches can reopen.
However, gatherings are still limited to no more than 25 people, and churches can only operate at 75 percent capacity.
Meanwhile, of the CNMI's total 59 confirmed cases so far, 33 cases (56%) have been identified through port-of-entry screening procedures, 10 (17%) cases have been identified as a community contact, and 16 (27%) cases identified as a known contact.
Of the 33 confirmed cases identified through travel screening, 23 (70%) cases originated from the U.S. mainland, three (9%) from a foreign country, and seven (21%) from Guam.