Another passenger from off-island tested positive for Covid-19 in the Northern Marianas over the weekend, raising the CNMI's total case numbers to 60.
Photo: RNZ Pacific/Mark Rabago
The person was identified by travel screening.
Health authorities said the person had been moved to a designated isolation area for close monitoring.
Contact tracing for the most immediate contacts has begun.
Of the total 60 confirmed cases, 34 cases have been identified through port of entry screening procedures, 10 have been identified as a community contact, while 16 cases were known contacts.
Hospital strikes electricity deal
Meanwhile the CNMI's only hospital hoped a new deal with the utility company would allow it to end a reliance on its ageing diesel generators.
The perennially underfunded Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation had struggled to pay its power bill for years, recently forcing it to using the diesel generators for six hours a day, when the external power was shut off.
It now entered into a deal with the Commonwealth Utility Corporation to chip away at a bill of more than $US34 million dollars.
This will involve the territory's government paying a significant portion.
The Health Corporation said cutting the power places huge stress on patients and staff.
And it said disconnecting the hospital's power would jeopardise its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services eligibility since this required a hospital to have stable power.
