The Samoan government has extended its state of emergency power through to May 8 as the Pacific nation grapples with its first major outbreak of COVID-19. Currently, the Pacific nation has recorded over 3,600 cases, with 263 in the last 24 hours. The current emergency powers were set to end on April 11. The Pacific nations had remained relatively untouched from the pandemic until recently, with Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, American Samoa, Kiribati, Niue, and Samoa all experiencing their first outbreaks this year. Currently, Samoa is under lockdown, with businesses and government services barred from opening on Sundays and only allowed to open on Monday to Saturday until 2 p.m. Churches can open from April 10 with limited capacity of up to 30 people. International travel into the country was suspended on March 18 after Samoa identified its first positive case of the virus. Around 66 percent of …