Nauru President urges people not to be complacent regarding COVID-19

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.

Nauru News reports 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 thanked 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 said 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 said 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.