REPUBLIC
OF NAURU
Government
Information Office
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
by
His
Excellency President Lionel Aingimea
Monday, 4
May 2020
Nauru remains coronavirus-free says
President Lionel Aingimea reiterating the government's capture and
contain strategy is working enabling Nauruans to live relatively
normal lives during this global pandemic.
From last week's Brisbane flight 16
people are in quarantine at the Meneñ Hotel, including a fisheries
observer who arrived by a fishing vessel and 18 at Canstruct
(Anibare village).
On Saturday 2 May, the World Health
Organisation recorded 3,356,205 confirmed cases and 238,730
deaths.
In today's media briefing, President
Aingimea said even though numbers are slowing down in neighbouring
Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, there are still between 70,000 to
90,000 new cases every day globally.
The President says this means the
numbers for COVID-19 continue to grow, and warns that every person
that has not been infected is still susceptible to being
infected.
"We cannot put down our guard, we must
always be ready."
Epidemiologists are saying there are
two ways the world population can be immune to coronavirus and to
get to a point where it can no longer be easily spread
around.
The first is that 60-70 per cent of
the world's population gets infected with the virus and develops
natural immunity; and the second is that a vaccine is developed,
then most of the global population is vaccinated to provide
immunity.
But the President says what is clear
is that we will be dealing with coronavirus for a long time to come
and the risk will be with us for the next one or two
years.
"This pandemic will not end soon. It's
still increasing in numbers and we have to remain
alert."
Meantime, the Ministry of Health and
the Coronavirus Taskforce is working vigorously to complete the
refurbishment of the acute block and fit it out to World Health
Organisation (WHO) standards with proper ventilation and
engineering advice being sought from Australia.
Apart from these upgrades, lab
technicians continue their training on the machine to test for
coronavirus. The hospital is also scheduled to conduct clinical
drills for nurses and doctors this week and next, to identify gaps
at the hospital and then work on addressing them.
Nauru Police is also working on their
own drills with a focus on helping the hospital including patient
movements, and other things necessary to ensure staff know exactly
how to respond to certain situations.
Two freighter planes are expected this
week but no passenger flights.
On the weekend, port contractors,
CHEC, brought in a shipment with cargo for the construction work.
The crew spent their 14 days quarantine on the boat since their
last port, Honiara, with the remaining days spent in Nauru
waters.
President Aingimea said the usual
health screening was performed on the crew including rapid testing
for coronavirus. All crew tested negative. Their boat was also
disinfected by Nauru Quarantine staff before cargo was unloaded and
the crew remained in the cabin as the cargo was being
unloaded.
The President said the message is our
border control and health procedures are ensuring that the CHEC
rafts are clear of the virus and we are protecting Nauru on all
angles. Future arrivals of CHEC rafts will undergo the same
procedure.
His Excellency offered his thanks
again to partners for supporting Nauru's efforts to protect its
borders and minimise the impact of coronavirus. In particular, the
President thanked Australia (through WHO and SPC) for the recent
donation of test kits for the GeneXpert system to test for
coronavirus. The kits arrived over the weekend.
Thanks also to Taiwan for its donation
of the Light Cycler 480 II machine and associated test kits; and
Israel for personal protective equipment, including face masks,
body suits, infra-red thermometers, gloves and goggles, for
frontline workers.
Special thanks and acknowledgement
also to service provider Canstruct who has been instrumental in its
support of the government's efforts by providing three meals a day
for everyone in quarantine and also fumigates the whole airport and
baggage after each flight - at no charge to the government, while
airport staff conduct cleaning of the airport after each
flight.
President Aingimea urges the Nauru
community to stay vigilant and work together to keep Nauru
coronavirus-free.
ENDS///
Issued
by:
Nauru
Government Information Office, Republic of NAURU
Ph: +(674)
557 3009 E: gio.nauru@gmail.com /
naurugovinfo@gmail.com /
www.naurugov.nr