The Northern Marianas received its first batch of the Moderna vaccine on Saturday, a day after the U.S. territory saw its Covid-19 total rise to 122 with four new infections on Christmas Day.
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation or CHCC said the four individuals were identified by travel screening and confirmed diagnosis through testing upon arrival and fifth day testing.
They are safely in quarantine and were moved to the designated isolation area for close monitoring.
The CHCC also said it has already initiated contact tracing for the most immediate contacts of the new confirmed cases, including passengers on the same flight.
Out of the 122 total Covid-19 cases, 96 were identified by travel screening while 26 were local transmissions.
There are currently eight persons in isolation.
The CNMI has had no local transmission for the past 132 days as the CHCC personnel who tested positive last week was identified via travel screening as he was returning from escorting a patient to the U.S. mainland.
Meanwhile, the CHCC said the 400 doses of the Moderna vaccine will be shipped to Rota and Tinian and also will be used for homebound residents of Saipan.
Over 1,700 front-liners and seniors 65 years and older have received the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
