Remote Marshall Islands Record First Confirmed Coronavirus Cases

The Marshall Islands, a group of volcanic islands and atolls in the Pacific, closed its borders in March to fend off the coronavirus.

At the time, the government said the islands were already dealing with outbreaks of dengue fever and an "Influenza-like-Illness."

"A single-case of COVID-19 would be catastrophic to the health system," the government said at the time.

On Wednesday, the government announced that two workers arriving from the U.S. tested positive for the coronavirus at a U.S. military base on Kwajalein Atoll. The two cases ended the Marshall Islands' run as one of the few nations in the world with zero known coronavirus cases.

The pair — a woman, 35, and a man, 46 — arrived on a military flight Tuesday from Hawaii. The government said the two did not interact with members of the community, and both were asymptomatic when they tested positive.

"We can assure the public that these are strictly border cases and were discovered while these people were in quarantine, where they remain until this time," the government said.