Thursday, 30 April, 2020
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
by
His
Excellency President Lionel Aingimea
Thursday,
30 April, 2020
President Lionel Aingimea reassures
Nauruans that Nauru remains coronavirus-free, thanks largely to the
country's capture & contain policy and the public's
understanding to assist in the national effort to keep Nauru
safe.
The next flight from Brisbane will
arrive tomorrow, Friday 1 May with 27 passengers. They will be
taken to the Meneñ Hotel and Anibare Village for their 14 days
quarantine. One Nauruan fisheries observer is also waiting on a
vessel at sea and will disembark at the same arrival time as the
Brisbane flight. He will then go into quarantine with this
group.
The Coronavirus Taskforce and the
Nauru Police Force are working on a national response drill while
the hospital is also working on its own drill.
The drills are to test the response
systems and educate the public on what some of the impacts could be
as well as identify gaps.
President Aingimea said the Nauru
Police have engaged 33 reserves who have been briefed on the rules
and regulations of the quarantine areas and are currently
undergoing other necessary training.
The Ministry of Health is expecting a
second oxygen plant which would more than double the oxygen
capacity for the island.
And as previously stated by the
President, the equipment and testing kits for coronavirus are on
island and the hospital is now awaiting the arrival of validation
kits tomorrow (Fri 1May). The validation kit will be run and sample
tests performed in the coming weeks to ensure proper testing and
operation of the machine.
Since the last quarantined group
checked out from the Budapest Hotel, the exit damage report reveals
damages to the walls of some rooms and items stolen such as
electric kettles.
"This is really not acceptable,"
President Aingimea said and underscored that extra spending will
now be diverted to pay for and repair these damages as well as
replace missing items taken from the rooms.
The incidents are now under
investigation by Nauru Police and charges will be laid
accordingly.
Since the start of the government's
measures to respond to the global pandemic of coronavirus,
President Aingimea says the Nauru Government has spent over $1
million on medical supplies and over $500,000 on quarantine, plus a
small amount in other areas requiring government assistance to
ensure Nauru's capture & contain policy is
effective.
The President said it must be
understood that money must be spent to address this important
medical issue and enable us to confront the fight against
COVID-19.
The Government has spent a lot of
money in the last week to bring in extra freighter flights for
supplies such as fresh produce, frozen food, flour and other
essentials.
The President confirms another four
freighters will arrive this week and reiterates there is no need to
hoard and panic buy for essential items but urges everyone to "go
about life as normal… we still have supplies being flown
in."
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