CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
REPUBLIC OF NAURU
Government Information Office
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
by
His Excellency President Lionel
Aingimea
Tuesday, 21 July 2020
In this week's update President Lionel Aingimea continues to
urge Nauruans and foreigners on island not to be complacent in
regards to coronavirus. Although Nauru remains coronavirus-free the
president warns that the virus is not slowing down.
The second wave of the virus globally and especially closer to
Nauru - in Victoria, Australia is of concern.
The second Coronavirus Taskforce practice drill staged on Friday
17 July went well in that it identified gaps and areas needing
improvement or changing to ensure the response is timely and it
works - in the event of a quarantine breach.
The Nauru Government and the Ministry of Health endeavour to
ensure there is sufficient safety gear for Nauru's frontline
workers and ample medical equipment in the hospital.
On that note, President Aingimea thanks telecommunications
provider, Digicel and the people and government of the Republic of
China (Taiwan) for their donations of one and five ventilators
respectively in the past week - assisting Nauru's fighting against
coronavirus.
Nauru's border operations continue to be well managed in regards
to maintaining strict quarantine measures and COVID-19 testing on
all arriving passengers and crew, both by air and sea.
Frontline workers are fully equipped with protective gear
whenever they approach arriving vessels.
The tugboat Kembla and the phosphate ship arrived in the last
week and had their crew tested for coronavirus with all results
returned negative.
The 22 Canstruct staff still in quarantine will be tested for
COVID-19 this Thursday. There are no other occupants at the
quarantine residences.
The Department of Justice and Border Control is drafting a
public health bill specifically for COVID-19.
President Aingimea says since the start of the pandemic a lot of
things have changed and the people have had to learn and adapt. In
that regard, legislation looking specifically at COVID-19 will
better address the direct nature of this virus and pandemic.
The president says we must ensure that visitors to Nauru respect
the laws of Nauru and Nauruan lives are not endangered in respect
to COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the justice
department issued its first alert warning online scams that
specially looks are exploiting innocent and unsuspecting people by
using COVID-19 for financial gain, as well as targeted at spreading
misinformation about the virus.
If you receive suspicious emails or text messages, the public is
advised against opening or responding to text messages or emails as
this may compromise the security and privacy of your personal
information that are contained on your phone/device or email.
In view of the changing landscape of COVID-19 since the start of
the pandemic, President Aingimea says travel advisories may be
reviewed.
President Aingimea added that Nauru is due to host the
Micronesian President's Summit this year and since all the five
countries of Micronesia are COVID-free, is basically a travel
bubble but whether travel between those countries or hosting the
summit face-to-face in Nauru will happen or not is yet to be
decided.
In the meantime, the Nauru Coronavirus Taskforce is looking at
travel procedures and movements in other countries.
Global cases have increased almost two million in a week. As of
Monday 20 July, the World Health Organisation has recorded
14,348,858 coronavirus cases and 603,691 deaths in 216
countries.
For more information or assistance about online scams, contact
the Nauru Financial Intelligence Unit supervisor, Rajas Swamy at rajasswamy@gmail.com or
5573388.