BY ALEX DADAMU
PRIME Minister Manasseh Sogavare has announced 48 new positive cases of COVID-19 in Solomon Islands in the past 24 hours.
This is the largest increase in positive cases of COVID-19 in Solomon Islands in the past 24 hours increasing the total number of cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in country to 81 case.
This increase represents an increase by 61 cases in the past month alone.
“33 cases are crews of a vessel that have been exposed to passengers that travel from Ontong Java on another vessel and were returning to Ontong Java, 9 cases are members of the family of a person that arrived in Honiara from Ontong Java on 10th January 2022.
“4 cases, a staff of Solomon Islands Maritime Authority, and Solomon Islands Enterprises Limited that had come into contact with a crew and a passenger from the vessel that arrived in Honiara on 10th January 2022.
“2 cases are from the Lord howe settlement and one from police headquarters.
“9 cases from the emergency department of the national referral hospital – three staff and six patients.
“The emergency department of the national referral hospital is closed as of last night, following the diagnosis of the nine positive cases.
According to PM Sogavare, all the 48 new cases in Honiara are from local transmission.
“They occur in different parts in the city. So COVID-19 infiltrated Honiara.
“47 of the 48 cases are link to the people that travelled to Honiara from Ontong java. The health team is currently investigating the sources of infection for the 48 positive cases case.
Prime Minister Sogavare further stated that the virus could have been spread to specific provinces.
“It is of serious concern that some of the passengers from the vessel that arrived on 10th January 2022 have already travelled to centres in other provinces including Noro and to Santa Catalina in makira province.
“The captain of the vessel also disembark after arrival on 10th of January and attended a funeral somewhere in Guadalcanal.
“This simply means that these people could already spread the virus to this provinces.
“A health team is following the trails of these people to test them, while also focusing efforts to contain the outbreaks in Honiara, and Ontong java.”
PM Sogavare stressed that the oversight committee at its meeting this morning, has agreed to finalise its action plan to respond to the multifaceted challenge the country is now facing.
“The plan which will be further refined by the oversight committee tomorrow will among other things, provide a strategy to respond to contain and control the COVID-19 outbreak in Honiara.
“Two, provide a strategy to respond to contain and control the COVID-19 outbreak in Ontong Java, and provide a strategy to respond to the COVID-19 hotspots in provinces that have been associated with Ontong Java in the past three weeks. These include Western Province, Choiseul province, Isabel province, Guadalcanal province, and Makira province,” Sogavare said.
Meanwhile PM Sogavare urged all members of the public to start adopting and implementing COVID-19 safe practices, which include the following;
- Limit movement into Honiara town.
- Wear face masks when you leave your homes.
- Do not leave your home if you are not wearing a face mask.
- Practice social distancing of at least two metres distance from the next person.
- Use hand sanitizers to wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.
- Do not congregate.
- Use face mask when travelling in public transports
- Maximum of three people per taxi and only two people for row in public buses
- Use masks when you go into shops and the market.
