A sailor deployed to Tinian from Guam has tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the number of coronavirus cases in the Northern Marianas to 57.
Tinian's North Field Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The sailor was part of a team of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (Seabees), supporting a survey for a Tinian port construction project.
He is the second person on Tinian to test positive for Covid-19.
The individual was identified by travel screening and confirmed diagnosis through testing upon arrival on Tinian, via a direct military flight into Tinian on Tuesday.
The US Navy has co-ordinated with local officials to safely transport the case and other identified known contacts from Tinian to Saipan where he has been checked-in to the designated isolation area at Kanoa Resort for close monitoring.
Contact tracing has begun for the most immediate contacts including passengers on the same flight and close family members and friends.
Of the CNMI's 57 confirmed cases, 31 had been identified through port of entry screening procedures, 10 cases as a community contact and 16 cases as a known contact.
22 cases originated from the US mainland, six from Guam and three from another foreign country.
Tinian recorded its first case of Covid-19 when a returning resident tested positive soon after arriving from Saipan in July.
The individual was promptly sent back to Saipan and quarantined at the Kanoa Resort.
Kanoa Resort Quarantine Facility in CNMI Photo: RNZ Pacific / Mark Rabago