A 36 hour lockdown is proposed in the Solomon Islands to test its Covid-19 response capabilities.
The Solomon Islands government has announced a 36 hour lockdown in the capital Honiara next Sunday to test the country's Covid-19 response capabilities.
In a statement on Friday the government said the lockdown was necessary given the surge of the deadly Covid-19 delta variant globally.
It said this was especially important as the country prepares for a limited re-opening of incoming flights which have been suspended for weeks because of worsening delta outbreaks in neighbouring countries.
It said Cabinet has approved the trial of the revised Lock-down plan for the Honiara Emergency Zone through a 36-hour lockdown from 6pm on Sunday 29th August to 6am Tuesday 31 August 2021.
The government through the National Disaster Council (NDC) said the Lock-down plan was recently reviewed to take into account lessons from the lockdown last year and the delta variant.
The review was done by the National Disaster Operations Committee along with stakeholders and donor partners.
Comment.
The limited lockdown I believe is a necessary and precautionary measure given the continued spread of coronavirus cases regionally and globally, especially the rise in the more deadly variant of Covid-10 known as the Delta variant.
Some might question my constant warnings over the regional spread of the Delta variant, but I would just like to update readers on the situation this morning, Saturday, as relayed in Radio New Zealand broadcasts.
Quoting RNZ
Australia, NSW and Victoria.
New South Wales has recorded 825 locally acquired cases of Covid-19 and three deaths in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
It's the highest number recorded by any Australian jurisdiction in a 24-hour period.
Of todays record cases, only 149 were linked to known cases or clusters.
The isolation status of 637 cases remains under investigation, while 58 were infectious in the community.
Three people have also died from Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths during the Delta outbreak to 68.
The state's total number of fatalities since the start of the pandemic is 124.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said "everybody should get the vaccine now".
"Don't be fussy on the vaccine. Go forth and get your vaccine with any vaccine offered to you," she said.
"Please make sure you do it as soon as possible to protect you and your loved ones and make sure we get quicker to our goals."
NSW deputy chief health officer Marianne Gale said 16 people who attended a gathering in Maroubra last weekend had since tested positive for Covid-19.
"A number of their contacts have also tested positive," she said.
"Contact tracing and further testing is under way and I'd like to particularly ask residents of Maroubra, Malabar and the Matraville area to come forward for testing and isolate should you have even the mildest of symptoms."
There were 38 new cases in Western NSW, including 32 in Dubbo, two in Bathurst, two in Wellington and one each in Walgett and Narromine.
Meanwhile, the outbreak in the state's far west continued to grow, with 12 new infections in Wilcannia and two new cases in Broken Hill
Victoria has recorded 77 new cases of Covid-19 and the government has increased restrictions for regional Victoria to match those of Melbourne.
The Health Department earlier said an additional 16 cases were recorded on a rapid PCR testing platform and would be reported in tomorrow's numbers.
Earlier the number of new cases for Victoria was said to be 61 and of those, 48 are linked to known outbreaks, and 22 were in isolation for their entire infectious period.
There were 45,670 test results received yesterday, and 29,539 doses of vaccine were administered at state-run sites.
The new cases come as the government announced that all of regional Victoria will move to the same lockdown conditions as already exist in Melbourne.
Victoria Premier Dan Andrews said the only exception was that a curfew would not operation in regional Victoria.
A government spokesperson yesterday said the situation in Melbourne and across regional Victoria was extremely concerning.
New Zealand
There have been 21 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay have given an update on the Covid-19 situation.
Three of the new cases are in Wellington, while the rest are in Auckland. There are also three new Covid-19 cases to report in recent returnees today.
Dr McElnay said the total number of community cases linked to the current Auckland outbreak is 51.
All cases have been or are being transferred to managed isolation facilities using strict infection prevention and control procedures, McElnay said.
PM Ardern said she still expected cases to rise through to next week before they started to fall away.
"One of the things we have learned from NSW is that the virus can keep spreading during lockdown from people going to work or people breaking the rules of the lockdown, this is one of the key reasons their case numbers keep going up and their lockdown extended."
She said no one wanted an extended lockdown so to avoid this she asked everyone to "stick to your bubble".
More than 5000 individual contacts have been identified and the Health Ministry expects that will grow and increase by another 5000 by the end of today.
The majority of those contacts are located in Auckland and Waikato regions with a small proportion located in the rest of the North Island and the South Island, said Dr McElnay.
She said public health staff are rapidly interviewing cases to find out how they were infected and to determine further details of their movements.
"They're working tirelessly to investigate the cases."
Dr, McElnay says isolating in alert level 4 means isolating yourself away from other household members, so when contacts get tested they need to remain isolated until they get their tests back.
She said 829 Waitemat? DHB staff had been tested and all results so far were negative, with 208 results pending. All patients from affected areas have returned negative tests.
North Shore Hospital's emergency department remains closed and ambulances are being diverted to other Auckland emergency departments.
ESR have completed genome sequencing for 29 cases - including the three announced in Wellington yesterday and they are all linked to the Auckland cluster, McElnay says.
Dr McElnay said there had also been Covid-19 found in wastewater testing in Warkworth, north of Auckland. Extra wastewater testing will be taken from Warkworth and Snells Beach today and tomorrow.
There are 41 sites around the country where wastewater testing is being done. Covid-19 continues to be detected in Auckland's wastewater.
Despite the rise in numbers, Ardern said there was some good news with New Zealand hitting two records yesterday, with the most number of vaccines and tests carried out.
There were 56,843 vaccines administered yesterday - the most in a single day. PM Ardern said 72 percent of NZers aged 40+ are either booked or have been vaccinated with at least one dose.
"This is great progress," PM Ardern said.
More than 150,000 vaccination bookings were made yesterday.
Yesterday also saw the most Covid-19 tests processed in a single day, with 41,464 tests completed.
"The fact we have achieved both these results on the same day is extraordinary and is exactly what we need to do to get on top of the outbreak and for the future."
There are 14 community testing stations open across Auckland today, PM Ardern said.
On locations of interest, PM Ardern said new genome sequencing information that had come out meant locations that were posted prior to 7 August were no longer locations of interest.
She said if you are sick and cannot get out to the supermarket you can get family or friends to drop off food by contactless delivery.
"Compliance and reducing contact is critical to stopping the virus."
Overall, compliance has been outstanding, she said.
Fiji
Forty-six more people have tested positive to Covid-19 on Fiji's remote island of Kadavu amid 485 new infections and 11 deaths.
All but one of the Kadavu patients are from a single village and they are in isolation, the government said.
Health Secretary Dr James Fong also confirmed a total of 485 new cases for the 24 hours to 8am yesterday.
Eleven more people have died, taking the death toll to 432, he said.
Dr Fong said 781 cases and eight deaths were reported in the previous 24 hours.
Dr Fong said there had been 1080 new recoveries reported since the last update, which meant there were now 20,591 active cases.
He said 12,050 are in the Central Division and 8494 in the West, one in the North and 46 active cases are in the East.
There have been 43,026 cases recorded during the outbreak that started in April 2021; a total of 43,096 cases recorded since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 21,825 recoveries.
Shipping services cancelled
Shipping services to and from Kadavu have been suspended after the death of a 63-year-old woman who tested positive for Covid-19 at the Vunisea Hospital in Kadavu.
Travel suspension for Ono-i-Lau
Dr Fong said to help with public health containment measures, shipping services to Kadavu had been suspended for a week starting yesterday and ending on 26 August.
"Investigations continue, and further announcements will be made on the future measures that will be put in place to contain spread on the island."
Earlier, a travel suspension was enforced for Ono-i-Lau in the Lau Group.
In a statement, the Maritime Safety Authority advised all shipmasters, shipowners and port management companies, operators, marinas and yacht clubs that the suspension is effective from 19-31 August.
The authority's chief executive, Simon Gravenall, all vessels including small craft and yachts scheduled to travel to Ono-i-Lau are to postpone planned trips during this period.
"The Police and Navy will carry out surveillance to ensure adherence to this notice."
Dr Fong said 310 Covid patients are in hospital - 114 of them are admitted to the Lautoka Hospital, 38 patients at the FEMAT field hospital, and 158 are at the Colonial War Memorial, St Giles and Makoi hospitals. He said 31 of them are in severe condition and 15 critical.
As of 19 August, 541,611 individuals had received their first dose of the vaccine and 228,799 got both jabs. This means that 92.3 percent of the target population has received one dose and 39 percent are fully vaccinated.
thorough investigation by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), Commander Viliame Naupoto has since asked the Health Ministry to conduct another full investigation.
End of quotes.
Footnote
I was pleased to read there had been a good turnout for vaccinations in Malaita and I hope there was the same level of vaccinations achieved in the Central Islands province.
Vaccination is the surest way to bring Covid-19 under some control and it is important that herd immunity from the virus is achieved as soon as possible and this will only be likely if all in the Solomon Islands that are eligible to be vaccinated get vaccinated quickly and reach at least 80 percent double vaccinated in the next month or so.
“Can’t be done”, did someone say? Yes, it can. The ‘penny has eventually dropped’ in Australia particularly in NSW where he Covid-19 infection rise has been so sudden and worrying that the many field vaccination centres have seen many, many thousands turn up to get their necessary jabs.
In Fiji, over 90 percent of the population has already had their first vaccination and a programme is in place to ensure people get the important second jab.
Get the necessary vaccinations, please and keep safe, including family, friends and the country.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
