Samoa has reported scores of new COVID-19 cases each day since detecting its first case of community transmission last week.
The South Pacific island nation of 200,000 people has been in lockdown since Saturday as it deals with its first outbreak of the pandemic.
The outbreak was discovered when a woman who was about to travel tested positive for the virus last Thursday.
Experts believe it is likely that the virus had been spreading undetected for days or even weeks.
American missionary Naila Tyner became the first person in Samoa to be infected with the virus outside a quarantine facility, and took to Facebook to share her experience.
"Up until that point, there was no COVID on this island as far as we knew, and so I was not expecting what happened," she said.
Samoa reported 95 new cases on Saturday and another 85 on Sunday.
Only 15 of the 196 active cases were imported from overseas, according to the latest government statement available on Monday. More than 2,200 tests had been done since Friday, the statement said.
Safe no more
Samoa and several neighbouring Pacific island nations were among the last places in the world to avoid virus outbreaks. But the more transmissible Omicron variant has changed the equation, and one by one the island nations have been succumbing to COVID-19.
Since the start of the year, Kiribati, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands and American Samoa have all experienced their first big outbreaks.
All Samoan schools are closed, public gatherings are banned, and all stores and other services are shut down, except those considered essential.
The lockdown is scheduled to last until Tuesday but many expect it will be extended.
'No panic'
Apia-based journalist Maina Vai said though the unexpected community case was "a shock to the country", residents were optimistic that the outbreak would come under control.
"I think the two years of waiting and looking at the overseas countries coping with COVID is a very positive thing," Ms Vai said.
"There is no panic at all."
Contact tracing is currently underway, with more than 400 close contacts under investigation.
About 65 per cent of all Samoans have had at least two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Our World in Data portal.
Samoa has had previous virus scares and lockdowns after returning plane passengers tested positive while isolating, but had managed to avoid any community outbreaks until now.
Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Nauru are among the few remaining Pacific island nations to have avoided Omicron outbreaks.
AP/ABC
