Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare says 48 positive locally transmitted cases have been recorded by the Ministry of Health.

He said this was from 8am yesterday to 8am this morning.

23 cases are from passengers of the vessel MV Akwa that were exposed to the passenger that tested positive 9 days after their arrival on the 10th of January 2022.

9 cases are family members of a person that was also on board MV Akwa and was infected.

4 are staff from the maritime authority, and the Solomon Islands enterprise, who were exposed when the boat berthed at point cruz.

9 are from the hospital - 3 are staff members and 6 are patients at the hospital.

2 are for the Lord Howe settlement.

1 from the police headquater.

Prime Minister Sogavare says it is very likely the numbers will continue to increase as more tests are being conducted.

Sogavare says the only way to fight this disease now that it is in our community is to get vaccinated. He says while there are many lessons that we can learn from, one important lesson is that those countries that were successful had high vaccination rates.