The Ministry of Health will build a low-pressure ward at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital at Moto’otua to isolate COVID-19 patients as part of preparations to defend against the pandemic. 

The Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, announced the news on Tuesday. 

So-called low-pressure wards can manipulate the air pressure in a hospital to prevent contagious illnesses from spreading into other parts of a building. 

Rooms with maintained lower air pressure allow outside air to enter into a room but any air that flows out of it must be filtered according to Pennsylvania State University.

Leausa also provided an update on the two patients who had previously tested positive to the virus and emphasised that testing had conclusively proven that they did not pose an infection risk. 

At the moment, they are being monitored at an isolation ward inside the premises at Moto’otua. 

“But we are currently preparing to build a low pressure ward," the Director-General said.

“Once [COVID-19 becomes] critical there will be a different plan for that. 

"The Intensive Care Unit ward will be used while we close off the other wards…but we are not at that stage at the moment.”  

The soon to be built low-pressure ward will have a capacity of 80 patients, said Leausa and will help contain the virus inside the building's walls so that it does not infect others. 

The new ward will be built where the Paediatric Ward is, or further away from the outpatient facility, he said. 

Conclusive testing done in New Zealand for the two historical cases in Samoa confirmed one man was first infected with COVID-19 in May and the second had the virus in August.

The National Emergency Operation Centre has assured that neither of the cases presents a risk to the community and is not contagious.  

The two patients who had previously tested positive to COVID-19, a 70-year-old who travelled to the country via Melbourne, Australia and a 23-year-old sailor who came via Italy, were both patients with "historical" cases of the virus and not actively contagious patients. 

Historical cases can produce positive results when tested for COVID-19 because remnants of the virus in a patient's blood are enough to return a positive reading but not to transmit the disease to others. 

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi revealed on Friday that both men had contracted the illness months before their arrival in Samoa.

Leausa said medical analysis has proven that 85 per cent of people who are infected with COVID-19 are not critical cases and are treated as outpatients. 

“The other 10 per cent are admitted at the hospital for complications and the remaining 5 per cent are critical cases,” he said. 

He pointed out those in the 5 per cent fraction often have other health complications and diseases such as cancer.