10 March 2022
Health and Medical Services Minister, Dr, Culwick Togamana has warned people not to neglect public safety measures regardless of the slowdown in covid-19 cases in Honiara and some parts of the country.
Dr Togamana observed a worrying tendency, especially, in Honiara where people obviously ignored putting on face masks and observing social distancing, in common places such as food markets and public transports.
He said it is obvious that people are no longer wearing masks in town and there is hardly any form of social distancing within public transports and even along the streets and offices.
He added that people are not constantly washing their hands with hand sanitizer when moving in and out of shops and markets.
“I strongly call on all of us to be responsible for ourselves and those around us by upholding these COVID-19 safe measures. The virus is still transmitting amongst us and with the curfew hours lifted and travels in and out of Honiara resuming, the risk to our health and lives still remains. Let’s not to let our guards down. Not yet,” the Minister said.
Minister Togamana further warned that “though the Delta variant is said to be deadliest than other variants, should Omicron or new variants find their way into the country or develop amongst us, many of us will still get sick, get hospitalized and even die. Even those who have recovered from Delta, their lives and health will still be at risk again”.
He urged those who are yet to get vaccinated to do so and not to be fooled by rumours, and people who are still discrediting and rubbishing COVID-19 vaccines as the mark of the beast.
Some members of the community even went as far as claiming that the vaccines are being used to generate more funding from donors and partners.
“This is not true. To date there has not been a single person in Solomon Islands that has died from COVID-19 vaccination. Yet in just two months, over 100 of our people, our very own family members, friends and relatives have died after contracting the virus and most of them were unvaccinated,” Togamana warned.
“The virus is transmitting in our rural communities and the worst for our people out there is yet to come. So please get your vaccination dose and get it now,” the Minister added.
Source. GCU
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
