The Government’s declaration of a 48-hour lockdown on Saturday triggered a lot of panic buying in Apia with residents overwhelming shops and businesses to stock up on supplies. 

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, in an address to the nation on Saturday morning, announced that her Cabinet has approved a two-day lockdown after health authorities confirmed another 5 positive COVID-19 cases to add to the 10 who initially tested positive on Wednesday.

The announcement by Fiame at around 11am on Saturday gave residents less than 6 hours to prepare for the shutdown. 

Visits by the Samoa Observer to major shopping outlets in Apia on Saturday confirmed the congestion with businesses running out of car park space and customers in the shop forming long queues with their shopping trolleys packed with groceries. 

The Frankie and Farmer Joe’s supermarkets at Vaitele and Ululoloa were all packed to capacity with customers. Rice and tinned food were the most sought-after goods.

Most shop employees wore face masks while serving their customers with smaller stores also forced to set up extra cashier counters for their larger-than-usual customer numbers.

The fruit market at Fugalei was also congested with cars as well as pedestrians looking to purchase vegetables. At the Electric Power Corporation’s Vaitele office, extra security guards had to be brought in to coordinate vehicle parking as E.P.C. customers formed a long queue in order to get two-days worth of electricity credits.

All the gas stations in Apia also had a large number of customers as motorists formed queues with their vehicles to buy either diesel or petrol. 

However, the announcement of the 48-hour lockdown did not affect a golf tournament at the Faleata golf course for young children, which ran for an hour on Saturday from 10am. A lot of the children’s parents were already prepared for a possible lockdown, having heard a day earlier that a lockdown was on the cards from 2pm on Saturday. 

The Government’s announcement of the two-day lockdown also negatively impacted florists’ sales at the Fugalei market. Most were unable to sell their bouquet of nicely-arranged flowers by midday, which was unusual for a Saturday. 

With the 2022 academic year now underway, it was not a busy Saturday for staff at the new Eveni Carruthers’ Eveni Block outlet at Sogi, where all the school uniforms are sold and would normally be crowded with parents on the eve of a new school year.

Eveni Carruthers C.E.O. Alexander Vaai confirmed his staff at the Eveni Block were not busy but acknowledged the importance of the lockdown after the country recorded 15 positive COVID-19 cases.

"We are happy that Samoa is going on lockdown – it is better to be safe than sorry, " the C.E.O. said.

The 48-hour lockdown ends at 6pm on Monday with the 15 positive cases currently in isolation at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital at Moto’otua and the Faleolo District Hospital.