Many COVID-19 patients are now self-quarantined at their respective homes to prevent the further spread of the virus.
The Minister of Health and Medical Services Dr Culwick Togamana confirmed this in his address yesterday.
“Many of the patients are in their homes and isolating themselves to prevent any further spread to their families and community,” Dr.Togamana said.
He advised the general public who think they have come into close contact with any positive cases or actually come close to them to self-isolate at home.
“Please self-isolate at home as we do not want to overwhelm our current health capacity,” Dr Togamana added.
He said those who develop severe symptoms of COVID-19 such as severe runny nose, shortness of breath, coughing etc must immediately contact St John Ambulance on phone 115 for escorting to the National Referral Hospital.
Honiara city and other Provincial Hotspots are expected to head into longer lockdowns in the coming days as covid-19 cases continue to surge.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said on Monday that longer lockdowns can provide much higher chances of eliminating covid transmissions in communities.
Lockdowns usually follow the incubation cycle of the COVID-19 virus which is 14 days, which means a once-cycle lockdown is 14 days.
The reason for the 14-days is that if people’s movement over one COVID-19 cycle of 14 days is reduced, much of the COVID-19 that is already carried by infected people would be eliminated and would reduce transmission.
Similarly, if a lockdown for two COVID-19 cycles which is 28 days is enforced, there is a much better chance of eliminating transmission as most of the active cases of COVID-19 in locked-down areas would have been eliminated.
As lockdowns will affect business operations and services, Government Authorities is meeting with the Solomon Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the business houses this week to assist the government in implementing lockdowns in efforts to reduce transmission and to contain the outbreak.
“My office will seek a meeting with the SICCI executive to discuss and formalize our partnership to support lockdown operations,” Mr. Sogavare said on Monday.
The Prime Minister has asked State-Owned Enterprises to assist and support the implementation of any lockdown by providing logistics and food rations not just for Honiara but to stockpile supplies that can go to provinces if they implement hotspot lockdowns.
A similar request has been sought from development partners to support lockdown operations with logistics and food packages that can be dropped off to households prior to any longer lockdown.
The Government believes that the only way to stop the spread of the virus is to reduce movements by enforcing lockdowns.
Additional testing and vaccination centres have also been set up by the government.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
