BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO
Current quarantine facilities have been improved to contain the covid-19 delta variant.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in his national address yesterday said: “We have conducted assessment to our quarantine facilities to ensure they are able to contain the delta variant without leaking it to outside communities should we have people infected with the variant in the facilities.
“Solomon Islanders the delta variant is very different from original strain of covid-19; it is more transmissible, it is more deadly, it affects people of any age group from children to adults.”
Sogavare said the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States has compared the delta variant’s ability to spread through the air to that of chicken pox.
Meanwhile, he said the temporary closure of the country’s borders has allowed the oversight committee and frontline ministries to re-asses and reset strategies to deal with the delta variant.
“We are now reviewing when will we reopen the borders and at what rate we will allow people to enter from countries with different risk profiles from the delta variant.
“Covid-19 can only enter the country through our international airports, international sea ports and through our western border.
“My government has invested much in the management of this potential entry points to ensure we detect potential COVID-19 risk before it reaches the country or reaches our borders,” Sogavare said.
“Our focus is to stop the virus entering the country or eliminating it at the border quarantine stations.”
