Premier Clay Forau of Temotu Province has informed members of the public in Lata that there is no general lockdown in Temotu Province.
However, he encourages everyone to practice personal hygiene and social distancing.
In a public address on Friday morning at Lata Market, he informed the general public and every market vendor, government officials, village chiefs, and leaders and representatives of private companies that his government has decided not to impose any lock-down but instead continue to assess the situation.
In doing this he said, his government is humbly asking all good people of the province to practice personal hygiene and social distancing in the villages and homes.
The COVID is here now, he said and such practices will help prevent the spread should it eventually reach the streets.
At the moment he said, the positive case is contained inside isolation and the National Government is confident it can contain it and eliminate it.
In asking the public to practice personal hygiene and social distancing, the government through PIDOC and provincial police has removed all side road beetle nut stalls in Lata, asked all fish and chips stalls on the side road to sell their fish and chips in the assigned market sites in Lata and downtown market.
All fundraising activities are now no longer allowed in Lata and surrounding villages, Ludo games along the streets are disallowed and he is asking all village chiefs and leaders to work together with the government to work with the government to prevent the spread of the virus in the province.
He said village chiefs play a very important role in the communities. “You can talk to your young people in the villages, you can put in place agreed rules and activities that help to prevent the entry of the disease in your communities.”
He calls on all parents to take time with their family members, talk to the young boys and girls to remain in the home during these dangerous times.
He said the only thing the government encourages is for all to start lock-down on their unhealthy practices such as chewing beetle nuts and smoking.
“This is important,” he said, “because if we have any existing health difficulties in us, it is very likely when we catch the virus, we may not be able to stand and survive it.”
He said that his government has issued a position paper to the national government recently stating that the government did not support the decision to repatriate Solomon Islands students from the Philippines.
“Not long after expressing our government position, we have a COVID positive from one of the repatriated students,” he said.
He continued and explained that government mock actions to lockdown have helped in the province’s preparedness now.
“When we have a positive case, we in a state of panic last time, now we are able to deal with the situation in a much more professional way by considering both sides of the issues.
“One thing the government learned in its lockdown exercises was that many people were affected, government services were affected, private businesses, school children, and overall the national economy was affected.
Based on these experiences, the Premier said whatever action they will take must consider their capacity to maintain basic services in the province but at the same time prepare everyone to minimize the chances of catching the virus and spreading it in the province.
Most people in Lata depend very on imported food, including many living around Lata town do not have many areas to plant food gardens, so he said; “our preparation must also include planting enough food gardens so that when the day comes for us to lockdown, we will have enough garden food supplies to keep us going.”
In the meantime he said; “every one of us living in the province must take extra care and practice personal hygiene while the government continues to assess the situation with the national government.”
