7 March 2022
SI records 8026 COVID-19 cases
Solomon Islands yesterday recorded 86 new COVID-19 positive cases, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 8026.
The Ministry of Health and Medical Services permanent secretary Pauline McNeil confirmed the figures during the National Oversight Committee Talk Back show, Sunday.
Mrs. McNeil said as of midday yesterday 86 COVID-19 cases have been added to the 7940 old cases to bring the country’s total figure to 8026.
She said of the 86 new recorded cases, 23 were from Makira Ulawa Province, 38 from Isabel Province and 24 from Honiara.
She said the country also recorded one death from Makira Ulawa Province yesterday to bring the country’s total number of deaths to 116.
The permanent secretary also revealed that that based on epidemiology data for health that is available, the virus still transmits around in isolated pockets in the communities.
“The transmissions of virus in the communities have increased cases recorded in most provinces.
“The health team has taken note of the community transmission,” she said.
New COVID-19 cases and deaths in the last 24 hours have made significant improvement in terms of decline in numerical counts.
Source. Solomon Star news
DCGA Supports Province
Since coming into power, the Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA) has overseen a total of 294 small infrastructure projects across all nine provinces.
The projects ranged from water supplies, community halls to schools.
A statement from the Government Communications Unit said of the 294 projects, Malaita Province hosted the highest number totalling 59 projects valued at more than $11.4 million.
Coming second, Guadalcanal Province with 45 projects valued at more than $9 million and Makira Ulawa Province with 40 projects valued at $8 million.
Other provinces are also playing host to government projects, with the least having 17 projects valued at $3.4 million.
DCGA continues to count on Provinces’ support, and cooperation to deliver on earmarked and proposed small infrastructure projects for this year and onwards.
The DCGA led government believes that the decentralization of projects is important to improve the livelihood of our rural people as 80 per cent of them are based in the rural areas.
While acknowledging the COVID- 19 community transmission, the DCGA reaffirmed its commitment to ensure Provinces are functioning as per the Provincial Government Act and at the same time delivering on small infrastructure projects which will positively impacted peoples’ lives.
With the support of our bilateral and multilateral partners, government looks forward to engage with Provinces in terms of implementing small infrastructure projects going forward.
However, the policy priority for government now is to equip Provincial Health Centres with COVID- 19 related know- how and equipment and at the same time ensuring that the economy is sustained.
The DCGA led government will continue to count on provinces’ support and cooperation to ensure that the rollout of the COVID- 19 preventive equipment and appropriate messages are well received in the Provinces.
Government also recognise the contribution of the provinces into the national economy, and will ensure that such commitment from the Provinces are maintained despite of the COVID- 19 community transmission.
Source . Solomon Star news.
Deteriorating bridges
North Road, the longest road access in Malaita Province with 112 Kilometres which runs from Central Kwara’ae and ends at Baegu Asifola, has many deteriorated bridges that are life threatening.
Speaking to this paper over the weekend, a concerned regular traveller Francis Wanebeu said the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development (MID) is doing a fine job in the recent upgrade of Kwai Bridge which allows vehicles to cross over without any difficulties.
Mr Wanebeu is of the view that all wooden bridges along the North Road should be upgraded with iron bridges with safety rails on.
He said many Bridges in the West Kwara’ae part of the road including the Dala Bridge should be upgraded to ensure they are safe for the public.
He said the same should be done to Kolofe Bridge in the Lau Mbaelelea part of the road where he said many small wooden bridges along the North Road have been left to rot without any attention from MID.
While he commended MID for seeing it fit to build iron and concrete bridges with safety rails along the North Road, he said those deteriorated bridges needed to be fixed for safety reasons.
Source. Solomon Star news.
International Women’s Day
As the world marks International Women’s Day, the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency announced today it is recruiting a specialist advisor to strengthen its capacity in gender and social inclusion. This is a new position within FFA and reports directly to the Director General.
Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director General, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen said FFA is thrilled to be building on the important work already underway with recruitment of an in-house Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Advisor.
“The objective of this role is to provide timely and relevant technical advice and assistance, undertake research, analytical work and capacity building initiatives on gender equality, diversity and social inclusion to support the Secretariat, our Member countries, and the Pacific tuna fisheries sector. ” said Dr Tupou-Roosen.
The role will support FFA’s commitment to working actively alongside its Member governments to promote four critical objectives:
· To remove barriers, both formal and informal, that impede or deter the full participation of women within the offshore fisheries sector;
· To provide practical support aimed at addressing the scourge of domestic violence;
· To work with all of our partners, including in the private sector, to promote greater gender balance and a respect for diversity that must underpin all our work;
· To acknowledge and celebrate the success and achievement of women in the fisheries sector.
“Although our industry has the reputation for being male dominated, I’d like to acknowledge and celebrate the many women pioneers who are leading the charge into non-traditional areas such as surveillance, ports, environment, science, fisheries observers and advocacy,” said Dr Tupou-Roosen.
“Women have long contributed to the growth of the sector in more traditional areas and we warmly thank these women for opening up the pathways for the future. Gender parity in fisheries will benefit us all.”
Äpplications for the Gender Equality Social Inclusion (GESI) Advisor close 14th of March 2022. More information can be found here : https://applynow.net.au/jobs/ni/137737-gesi-advisor
Intern national Women’s Day
Solomon Star news
NZ. Covid-19: Daily community cases up to 17,522, 696 in hospital
There are 17,522 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today and 696 people in hospital.
The seven-day rolling average of community cases is 17,921, up from 17,272 yesterday.
"Care needs to be taken when interpreting daily reported cases, which are expected to continue to fluctuate," the Ministry of Health said.
"This means that the seven-day rolling average of cases gives a more reliable indicator of testing trends."
More than 47,000 Rapid Antigen Test results were reported yesterday, including 16,625 positive results.
In comparison, 897 cases were confirmed via PCR testing.
"We would again urge people to self-report RATs results, even if it is negative. If you are a household contact please still report your RATs results separately, even if other household members have already reported theirs," the ministry said.
"The self-reporting of RATs helps provide a clearer picture of how the pandemic is progressing. It is essential we have as much information as possible to inform public health decision-making."
There are 192,492 active cases confirmed in the last 10 days and not yet classified as recovered.
Of the 696 in hospital, 13 were in ICU. The average aged of those in hospital is 57.
The Ministry of Health said "While still early in the Omicron outbreak, the figures show that, based on the data available, unvaccinated people are four times over-represented in the current hospitalisation data. Just 3 percent of eligible people aged 12 and over in New Zealand have had no doses of the vaccine; however, of the eligible people in Northland and Auckland hospitals with Covid-19, 13 percent have had no doses of the vaccine."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this afternoon said because of the difficulty of using rapid antigen tests and self-reporting to track the outbreak, New Zealand was now using hospitalisations as its measure of the outbreak.
She noted there was a lag of between five to 10 days behind cases, and the northern region was expected to peak before other regions.
"We need to just ... continue to watch here and track what we're seeing in our hospitals to know."
Epidemiologist Rod Jackson told Morning Report daily Covid-19 case numbers were no longer reliable, because it was up to those testing positive to report their results themselves.
Case numbers have fallen about 30 percent in the past three days, but the number of test results being logged has also taken a dive.
There were 15,161 new community cases yesterday, more than 3500 fewer than the day before of 18,833. On Friday, it was 22,527.
Jackson said cases could be two or three times higher than the official reported numbers.
Similarly, Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa project leader Dion O'Neale also said the shift to rapid antigen tests (RATs) and focus on personal responsibility in reporting cases could be throwing numbers off.
Source. Radio New Zealand.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
