1 March 2022 08:43 AM
A total of 112 new positive cases have been recorded for the country as of 12pm yesterday.
The Health Minister Dr. Culwick Togamana gave the update during his daily COVID-19 situation report on the national broadcaster, SIBC.
The cumulative total cases of positive COVID-19 in the country since the outbreak now stands at 7,049.
Of the 112 cases, 67 are new cases of which 21 are reported in Malaita, 16 in Central, 8 in Choiseul, 4 in Honiara, 3 in West, 13 in Makira and 2 in Guadalcanal.
The remaining 45 cases are reported outside of the reporting period, of which 22 are in Central, 6 in Malaita and 17 in Guadalcanal.
3 deaths have also been added, brining the total deaths due to COVID-19 for the country to 99.
In separate news carried today by the Solomom Times, Dr. Jimmy Rogers the Secretary to them Prime Minister is reported to have said, and I quote,
Solomon Island has seen some improvement but this does not mean that we are out of the woods just yet.
The world has recorded 436 million cases of Coronavirus to date. This is roughly a million infections a day. Interestingly, the pandemic is showing signs of slowing and hopefully the trends recorded will continue to improve.
He however cautioned that it would be premature to celebrate this turn of events since Covid-19 is still very much an existential threat to humanity and Solomon Island is no exception.
Dr. Rogers mentioned that some neighboring countries are still experiencing high daily infections.
Solomon Island on the other hand has seen some improvement but this does not mean that we are out of the woods just yet.
At least it gives us a better idea of where we are heading and whether or not the measures implemented are working,” he said.
The Oversight Committee had held a meeting with representatives of Solomon Islands Full Gospel Association (SIFGA) and Solomon Islands Christian Association (SICA) on Thursday of last week to look into the possibility of reopening churches.
The meeting was productive and fruitful because we managed to share with the churches the government’s policy direction on the safe reopening of churches and that does mean the lifting of restrictions and the number of people that can worship at any one time,” the SPM said.
He said that the churches have highlighted certain areas that the government should take into consideration.
In the main he added that the churches have had the same objectives as the government and that is to control Covid-19 by reducing the potential for transmission through stringent implementation of safety protocols such as the wearing of masks and social distancing.
The churches are now empowered and hopefully by next week, more churches will welcome their parishioners whilst simultaneously observing the guidelines that we have discussed and agreed on,” Dr. Rogers stressed.
He highlighted that these measures are applicable to churches in the emergency zones and those in Covid-19 free areas can proceed with church services and activities as normal.
The other area that the SPM also touched on is the reopening of schools. Dr Rogers mentioned that the Ministry of Education and Human Resources (MEHRD) has completed an information paper, which has already been forwarded to the Oversight Committee.
Dr. Rogers said that the paper will then be forwarded to Cabinet with recommendations for their consideration and approval.
The final area he updated the nation on is the repatriation of nationals especially our students from Fiji.
Our thinking at the moment is that we are looking at Wednesday March the 9th, 2022 as the date for the first repatriation flight,” he mentioned.
The SPM stated that the Committee is finalizing arrangements with Solomon Airlines.
End of quote.
When it comes to the transmission of Covid-19 cases then New Zealand is having difficulty with the spread of the virus and Radio New Zealand this morning revealed the extent of the problem, and again I quote.
There are 19,566 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today, the Ministry of Health has reported.
It said there were also 373 cases in hospital and nine in ICU.
There were 22 cases identified at the border.
During the 1pm Covid-19 update, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there were just under 100,000 active cases across the motu.
"I know that such a high daily case number can be concerning for people to hear, and many of us will now have wh?nau members who now have Covid-19, but it's important to remember that Covid-19 now is a very different foe to what it was at the beginning of the pandemic."
He said the high vaccination rate meant for most people it would be a more mild illness and could be managed safely at home.
He said PCR testing had served NZ incredibly well, but with thousands of cases each day NZ did reach the point last week where rapid antigen testing became both useful and appropriate.
He said samples were typically pooled earlier on in the outbreak, but a positive test in a batch means each will need to be retested. Higher test positivity rates now however meant it becomes less feasible.
He said prior to 7 February, none of the labs had ever exceeded 5 percent test positivity, but the swift increase in positive cases had affected that. Labs had also had other difficulties, including vacancies in roles and sickness because some lab workers had contracted the virus.
On vaccinations, the ministry said 388 first doses were given yesterday; 733 second doses; 74 third primary doses; 23,465 booster doses; 1,452 paediatric first doses and 231 paediatric second doses.
Five people with Covid-19 were in ICU yesterday.
End of quote.
Sources – Solomon Times Online and Radio New Zealand.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
