
Effective January 1, 2023 everyone arriving in American Samoa will be required to fill the Department of Health questionnaire for travelers on line. The manual forms will no longer be avalaible after that date.
As listeners will recall around October, the Covid 19 Task Force announced that travelers to the territory will have the option of registering on line or fill the health forms manually upon arrival.
The online registration was done first on TalofaPass and later on the new portal: travelerdeclaration.as.gov
Motusa said after the three months of giving travelers the option of online or manual filling out of the health declaration, DOH is now transitioning back to online registration.
The director said the electronic system helps all agencies connected to the airport and port and assists DOH monitor and track any incoming disease of concern.
He said Immigration, Customs and Agriculture will continue with their manual forms but for the health declaration everyone has to fill it on line.
And if they don’t, they will be held up when they arrive at while staff help them fill out their declaration forms, as opposed to being cleared right away.
Datahouse Inc. is responsible for the DOH portal.
In other news from the Covid 19 Task Force, DOH has endorsed the Jan 1 resumption of cruise ship visits to the territory.
Motusa said DOH will be ready to handle the cruise ship visits. He said the resumption of cruise ship visits has been in the pipeline for a few months so DOH has made preparations.
At the Tuesday meeting of the Task Force held via Zoom, Director of the American Samoa Visitors Bureau, Taimalelagi Minnie Tuia says the first cruise ship is confirmed for February. There are 18 cruise ships expected in 2023. Taimalelagi said American Samoa is the last in the region to welcome back cruise ships after the covid pandemic.