According to Dr. Gregory Jilini, the Deputy Secretary of Health Care in the Solomon Islands speaking at the weekend, the country has not recorded any new COVID-19 cases for the past 45 days.
“The number of COVID cases still stands at 18 for the past 45 days and till now we haven’t recorded any new cases,” he said.
Dr. Jilini described the trend as good and very encouraging to show this sharp drop of COVID transmission.
He also thanked the effort of everyone, the front-liners, and all agencies that are involved in trying to protect this country.
He said all the 18 have been discharged and none of the 18 are in the quarantine stations.
“They have recovered and have completed their three negative tests and now they have gone back to their families and their communities,” he said.
He said, in terms of people in the quarantine stations, the public health team has continued to monitor those in the quarantine stations and conduct follow-up tests.
He said last week a total of three arrivals came from the Brisbane flight and from the same period they also discharged six and another seventy yesterday.
“So currently we have a total of 27 people still remain in our quarantine facilities.”
the secretary to the Prime Minister (SPM) Dr. Jimmy Rodgers said all the countries that have been vaccinated have a sharp drop in the transmission of the virus.
“This has shown the effectiveness of the vaccine that has been taken.
“We only have 18 official reported cases and that stands at 18 for quite a while now which is a credit to the pre-departure requirements where we have put it in place and therefore when cases coming in we manage to control it.
“We aim to put it that way and we aim to make sure anything comes through we caught it at the border,” he said.
Dr. Jilini also used his talk at the weekend to announce that 20,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 doses will arrive in the country this coming Friday.
He said frontline workers will be the first to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine, and this could happen as early as next week.
The COVID-19 vaccine Technical Working Group (TWG) is currently conducting awareness sessions for all frontline workers. The TWG comprises of immunization and health experts within the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, UNICEF and WHO in collaboration with the National Health Promotion Officers of MHMS.
In the latest media statement the Chair of the TWG, Dr Divinal Ogaoga, explained the importance of vaccinating the COVID-19 operation frontline workers.
“Front-liners are our first line of defense because they are the ones responsible to assess and clear, transport and monitor all incoming travelers, including managing and caring for those who arrive in country and tested positive for COVID-19. As such, they are more at risk of contracting COVID-19 than any other citizens," Dr Ogaoga said.
“Therefore, by giving priority to frontline workers to receive the vaccine we are not only protecting the frontline workers themselves but also enhancing the protection of the entire country against COVID-19.
“Further-more front-liners perform a critical role in the overall efforts of the country against COVID-19 thus the vaccine will prevent them from hospitalization or death due to COVID-19”.
In the very latest news today, Monday, which could further lift people’s spirits, it has been declared that the State of Public Emergency (SOPE) will end next week, at midnight on Wednesday 24th March.
The SOPE became effective in the early part of last year when COVID-19 was declared a global health pandemic and spread like wildfire throughout the world.
Speaking about the SOPE during a national-talk-back-show on Sunday, the Secretary to Prime Minister (SPM) Dr. Jimmy Rodgers said, the current SOPE will end on 24th March He also clarified that the end of the SOPE doesn’t mean people coming into the country will be not be quarantined.
“As we bring in people we will also quarantine them,” he added.
He said once the Pandemic Health Bill is passed in Parliament it will take over the SOPE.
But if it is not passed then the SOPE issue will be brought to Cabinet for a recommendation on what to do next in Parliament.
He said the government will still quarantine people coming into the country.
Sources. Solomon Star News and Solomon Times Online.
Comment.
The latest news as reported by the local media is encouraging and I feel sure people will be feeling a little more relieved.
In the UK press, it has been said that the rapid rollout of Covid-19 vaccines across Europe has led to business confidence hitting its highest levels in three years.
The increase has been driven by the success of the vaccine rollout, especially in the UK, which has left firms more confident that restrictions will soon be lifted.
More than 24m people have now received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in this country.
After tumbling during the pandemic, service confidence has bounced back especially strongly in Britain, the survey showed.
UK firms were the most upbeat towards job creation, with hiring optimism the strongest since mid-2015.
As well as increased hiring confidence, last month also saw a resurgence in planned capital spending.
I very much hope that once the Covid-19 vaccines are administered in the Solomon Islands there will be a similar rise in business confidence and the situation will begin to get back on its feet. I hope too for a rebound in tourism to help struggling tourism operators, Solomon Airlines, and give a much-needed boost to the national economy.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
