Coronavirus

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PM Cleared For Official Duties

Manning said, the Prime Minister was cleared after completing 14 days in isolation and seven days of being asymptomatic.

He highlighted that the National Control Centre medical team ensured that the PM’s situation was handled professionally and he was cleared to return to work in accordance with the set clinical and isolation guidelines.

Manning was responding to clarify medical reports concerning the situation with the PM since he went into isolation after returning from his trip to the People’s Republic of China.

NZ to donate more vaccines to COVAX

The Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the latest donation to COVAX will also support vaccination programmes in developing countries, including in parts of the Pacific and in Africa where immunisation rates are low.

New Zealand is contributing a further 7.3 million vaccines to COVAX including 5.8 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 1.5 million doses of Janssen vaccine.

Through New Zealand's Advance Purchase Agreement (APA) with Pfizer, paediatric vaccine doses are also being provided to countries in Polynesia.

Approvals Not Required To Enter PNG

The key changes to the measures are mainly in the international and domestic travel and social measures. Under the new measures, approvals are no longer required to enter PNG for international travels.

Tourists may now travel to PNG without pandemic approvals. However all persons must still be fully vaccinated to travel into the country, unless they are under 18 years of age or are Papua New Guinea citizens.

Solomon Islands govt Covid-19 measures includes reopening casinos

On Saturday the government announced that churches, bars and night-clubs in the Honiara Emergency zone will stay shut, except for casinos.

This comes as Covid-19 rips through Solomon Islands, especially in the capital.

As of late last week there were more than 4,000 cases in the country and at least 50 deaths.

Mr Wale claims the exemption for the casinos is purely political to support businesses with links to the government.

He asks how casinos can be any different from churches in terms of helping spread Covid.

 

US delays Covid vaccine for children under five by at least two months

The FDA had planned to decide on the vaccine based on early trial data as soon as next week with the government planning to roll it out on 21 February. It had asked Pfizer to speed up its application as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus caused a surge of infections, including among children.

On Friday, the agency said it had reviewed new trial information that arrived after Pfizer and BioNTech's request for emergency authorisation and decided it needed more data before weighing in on the authorisation.

New Covid Care Centre At NSI

Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority (EHPHA) has opened a new COVID-19 Care Centre outside of the Goroka Provincial Hospital.
 
On Friday 11th February, EHPHA opened the new care centre at the National Sports Institute (NSI) premises by converting the existing indoor complex into a 100 bed holding capacity for serious and acute cases of COVID-19 patients.

The K100,000 worth facility was made possible by the joint assistance of Kainantu Mining Limited and the Eastern Highlands Provincial Government.

Vitis Foundation Donates To PMGH

The Vitis Foundation donated a K5000 cheque together with vital medicines and consumables worth K35,000 to the PMGH.

The Foundation Chairman, Dr Sergey Mossin made the presentation to PMGH Director Medical Services, Dr. Koni Sobi.

After the hospital management and staff expressed frustration and concern over shortage of essential medical drugs and consumables on social media and mainstream media, Vitis Group of Companies is the first to respond positively.

Solomon Islands Covid-19 cases stands at 4203

The Minister of Health and Medical Services, Culwick Togamana, said a total of 229 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours - 166 in Honiara which represented 72 per cent of new cases and 63 cases from the provinces.

Dr Togamana said in terms of Covid-19 related deaths, the country's total figure stands at 50 - 38 in Honiara, eight in Guadalcanal Province, three in Malaita and one in Western Province.

The country's first case of domestic transmission of the virus was recorded last month.

 

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446 new community cases in New Zealand today

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said the new cases are in Northland (16), Auckland (340), Waikato (48), Lakes (13), Bay of Plenty (14), Lakes (13), Taranaki (1), Hutt Valley (7), Capital & Coast (4), and Southern (3).

The ministry said the number of cases would continue to fluctuate from day-to-day but "our expectation is that cases will continue to increase in the coming weeks".

Omicron variant widespread in Kiribati as 222 new Covid-19 cases recorded

The omicron variant is now widespread in the community as cases continue to be recorded on South Tarawa, Betio, Buota, Butaritari island and in North Tarawa.

The health ministry has confirmed that a 65-year-old woman who previously had a stroke has been admitted to an isolation centre.

The health ministry said 48 border cases at the Quarantine Centre have all been discharged after they tested negative, while another 88 community cases have recovered.

There is one confirmed Covid-19 death on the atoll islands.