COVID-19 pandemic in Easter Island

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Chilean island and special territory of Easter Island in March 2020.

COVID-19 pandemic in Easter Island
DiseaseCOVID-19
Virus strainSARS-CoV-2
LocationRapa Nui, Chile
Index caseHanga Roa
Arrival date24 March 2020
(3 months and 4 days)
Confirmed cases5
Suspected cases‡0
Recovered5
Deaths
0
‡Suspected cases have not been confirmed as being due to this strain by laboratory tests, although some other strains may have been ruled out.

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.[1][2]

The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003,[3][4] but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.[5][3]

Timeline

On 19 March, the local government of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ordered a lockdown of the island and requested LATAM Airlines to evacuate all tourists on the island.[6]

On 24 March, the first case in Easter Island was confirmed,[7] followed by a second one in the following days. By the start of April, 5 confirmed cases had been reported. A sixth case was reported on mid April;[8] however, the Ministry of Health confirmed a few days later that the case was a false positive. All cases have recovered after some weeks and no new cases have been reported since.

Case summary
Week New cases Total cases
15-03-2020 to 21-03-2020 2 2
22-03-2020 to 28-03-2020 1 3
29-03-2020 to 04-04-2020 2 5
05-04-2020 to 11-04-2020 0 5
12-04-2020 to 18-04-2020 0 5

See also

References
  1. Elsevier. "Novel Coronavirus Information Center". Elsevier Connect. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  2. Reynolds, Matt (4 March 2020). "What is coronavirus and how close is it to becoming a pandemic?". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  3. "Crunching the numbers for coronavirus". Imperial News. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  4. "High consequence infectious diseases (HCID); Guidance and information about high consequence infectious diseases and their management in England". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  5. "World Federation Of Societies of Anaesthesiologists – Coronavirus". www.wfsahq.org. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  6. Clarín.com. "Coronavirus en Chile: los moai de Isla de Pascua, en cuarentena". www.clarin.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  7. "De origen autóctono: Rapa Nui confirma primer contagio de coronavirus en la isla" (in Spanish). CNN Chile. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  8. Ministry of Health of Chile (15 April 2020). "Informe epidemiológico – Enfermedad por SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-2019)" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
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