During Kalākaua's 1881 world tour, Liliʻuokalani served as Regent in his absence. One of her first responsibilities was handling the smallpox epidemic of 1881 likely brought to the islands by Chinese contracted laborers. After meeting her with her brother's cabinet ministers, she closed all the ports, halted all passenger vessels out of Oʻahu, and initiated a quarantine of the affected. The measures kept the disease contained in Honolulu and Oʻahu with only a few cases on Kauaʻi. The disease mainly affected Native Hawaiians with the total number of cases at 789 with 289 fatalities, or a little over thirty-six percent.