Testing for covid-19 in Malaita Province is expected to begin soon at Kiluufi hospital following the installation of a GeneXpert machine on 27 January 2022.
Provincial Health workers this week were also trained on how to conduct tests using Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits to support the testing process in the Province.
Parts of the Province were listed as potential hotspots following the outbreak which was traced back to Ontong Java in the Malaita Outer Islands and later in Honiara on January 10.
Since the outbreak, the Malaita Provincial Disaster Operations Committee (P-DOC) was activated on 17 January 2022 following the confirmation of positive cases recorded in Ontong Java.
Contact tracing and testing of COVID suspects in Ontong Java confirmed 6 positive results. Contract tracing and swabbing continue for all contacts of the positive cases.
Contact tracing is also arranged for the Southern Regions of Malaita soon after concerns were raised by people living in the region due to MV. Awka’s traveling history to some parts of the region.
Meanwhile, most communities surrounding Auki town have activated their own temporary lockdowns and restrictive movements to assist health responses while many have sought vaccination in Auki in recent days.
The P-DOC team in Auki is preparing Aligegeo Secondary School as a temporary quarantine facility. Additional accommodation has also been identified to accommodate Clinical Teams and other frontline staff to manage the facility.
–GCU
