CORONAVIRUS UPDATE by His Excellency President Lionel Aingimea, MP Friday, 24 June 2022
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
by
His Excellency President Lionel
Aingimea, MP
Friday, 24 June 2022
In today's update, His Excellency
President Lionel Aingimea says the accumulative statistics as at
end of Thursday, 23 June, are as follows:
-
150 new cases
-
1,048 active cases
-
395 tests done yesterday (Thu 23 June)
-
5,085 tests done this outbreak
-
8 admitted to hospital (ACU)
-
0 critical cases
-
0 cases on ventilator
-
135 houses across all districts are in isolation with 1,214
occupants
No new admissions to the Acute Care
Unit (ACU). All cases are stable and improving. Twenty per cent, or
approximately 1 in 5 people tested are positive.
The numbers isolating at the
government transit stations have reduced to 313 with some opting to
isolate at home: 200 are isolating at the Budapest and 113 remain
at the Menen.
Special Isolation facilities are
available for essential workers from health and police.
Drive in testing stations are open
at:
-
Tigers oval
-
JAB oval
-
Blues oval
-
Naoero Public Health
Vaccination for children 5-11 years
old will start Saturday 25 June at the Aiue Boulevard. It will be a
drive-through vaccine station.
Children who have not had COVID can
be vaccinated immediately. There is no harm and there may be
benefit to your child if they receive the vaccine and then get
COVID soon after.
If your child has already been
infected with COVID during this outbreak, you can wait until late
September for the first dose and second dose three to four weeks
later, before the end of October.
All children should receive their
second dose three to four weeks after the first dose.
The government is working to get
more vaccines and is in discussions with the governments of Japan,
Australia and New Zealand.
The government is thankful to
service providers, Wilsons Security and Canstruct, who have been
offering assistance with the supply of masks and Rapid Antigen Test
(RAT) kits.
Many thanks also to Digicel for
donating 100 minutes of free calls daily to every phone to enable
families and friends to stay in contact during these tough times of
isolation and lockdowns. The daily top-up commences tonight at
7pm.
Digicel is also donating four
hospital beds, two mattresses and four infusion pumps to the
hospital.
There are some changes in the
protocol for close contacts. They now only need to self-isolate for
two days and if you have a negative RAT test, you may end
isolation.
However, you must do the
following:
- Keep wearing a mask when outside
your home.
- If you develop symptoms, return
to isolation for another two days and get tested.
This means for everyone who has
been self-isolating as a close contact and it has already been more
than two days, if you test negative today, you can end your
isolation.
The impact of isolation on
essential services is being closely monitored. At this time, all
essential services have significant numbers of workers in isolation
and unable to work.
This has put a serious strain on
all essential services, including the hospital, police, utilities,
bank, supermarkets, ports as well as the COVID Taskforce.
The public is asked to be
considerate of the people working hard to keep these services
operating and to limit demands on these services where
possible.
You can help by continuing to wear
your mask, stay home and abide by the rules in place to ensure we
minimise the spread of COVID-19 so we do not place greater
stress on them.
There has been a drop in the number
of people getting tested or reporting their test results. It is
important that you
get tested if you have not yet
tested positive and you have any symptoms or are a close
contact.
We need test results to help the
Taskforce track where we are at in this outbreak.
Everyone who has conducted home
self-tests to please call 192 to register your results, both
positive and negative results.
We need everyone to get tested if
you have symptoms or are a close contact.
We do not need you to get tested
again after you have tested positive.
We are just one week into this
outbreak and there are signs that some people are not staying at
home and are beginning to leave their homes for non-essential
reasons and some have started to gather in groups and
socialising.
There is a lot of virus spreading
in the community and we need everyone to help slow the spread so we
protect the vulnerable.
We emphasise that at this time,
everyone is asked to stay at home unless going out for essential
work; to buy food and supplies (buy online where you can); get
tested or seek medical care; and for emergencies.
President Aingimea thanks everyone
who is responding the right way and doing their part. Please
continue to follow measures to limit your movement outside your
home and to avoid contact with other people.
Always have your mask on when
outside your home if you are not being isolated. The safety of your
neighbour is in your hands and your safety is in theirs.
If you are positive, at this time
we ask you to isolate for 13 days and until you have had three days
without symptoms before ending your isolation. You can
self-isolate at home.
If you can't self-isolate or don't
feel safe, you can request to isolate in Quarantine Accommodation
where there are health staff and other support available
At this time, we need everyone to
complete the full period of isolation. Even if you are feeling well
you can still be contagious and pose a risk to others.
We need you to isolate for 13 days
to protect the vulnerable people in our community.
These isolation protocols may
change and reduce as we go through the outbreak, but for now, all
positive cases should still be strictly isolating and not going out
at all.
The delivery of eggs, water and
noodles to homes in isolation is underway. Please be patient if you
have not received yours. Delivery crews endeavour to expedite
deliveries as soon as practicable.
Due to the high number of calls
being received, 191 will sometimes be busy. Please keep calling
this number and your call will be answered.
192 is a toll-free number to
register your self-test results (negative or positive result.
Call 192 to register your self-test
results. These calls will not be charged.