Cabinet at its meeting today yesterday has approved the repatriation flights to Guangzhou in China and to Manila in the Philippines.

The flight to Guangzhou will be on 1 September 2020, whilst the first two flights to Manila are scheduled for 15th and 18th September 2020 respectively, with the dates of the 3rd flight to be confirmed.

A statement from the Office of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (OPMC) stated that the decision was made after careful consideration, which also considered the risk assessment of intending travelers, the COVID-19 status in both countries, and our requirement for all travelers to do pre-departure COVID-19 testing which must be negative before they can be allowed to travel.

“PRC is currently classified as a category 3 country. This means they experience less than 50 new cases of COVID-19 per day. All travelers from category 3 countries, must have 2 negative tests in the 14 days prior to travel with the 2nd test 2-3 days prior to departure,” it said.

The statement said passengers could only board the plane if both tests are negative.

“On arrival in the country all travelers from category 3 countries will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period and they will have two further tests which must both be negative before they can be released,” it said.

The OPMC statement said as for Philippines, it is a category 4 country.

This means the country has more than 50 new cases every day (In fact daily new cases in Philippines averages between 3,000 – 4,500).

“All travelers from category 4 countries must have three Covid-19 tests in the 21 days before the flight with the 3rd test to be taken 2-3 days prior to the flight. They will only be allowed to board the plane if all three tests are negative for COVID-19. On arrival in the country, all travelers from category 4 countries will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period and they will have a further 3 tests which must be all negative before they can be released.”

The statement adds for both categories, doctors can keep a person longer than the 14 days and may do additional tests if so required. The maximum quarantine period is 21 days.

“All intending passengers from both countries will be subjected to confirmation from the Ministry of Health & Medical Services that all pre-departure health assessment and pre-departure testing requirement are completed, and results sent to our health authority before they can travel. All incoming passengers must be individually approved,” the statement said.

“All passengers regardless of their nationality or status will and must undergo strict testing and quarantine protocols prior to, during and after arrival.”

“According to our testing protocols, all passengers must undergo two tests before boarding the flight from category 3 countries and 3 tests before for category 4 countries. Anyone who is tested positive will not board the flight,” it said.

The OPMC statement adds the flight to China will be undertaken for purposes of repatriating our Solomon Island citizens. It will also bring in the new PRC Ambassador to Solomon Islands and some members of the Embassy staff, the PG2023 technical team and workers of major Chinese companies working in major infrastructure projects in the country comprising a total of 88 passengers.

With regards to Philippines, the statement said about 403 students and dependents are to be repatriated through three charter flights. All students must do three COVID-19 test each prior to travelling.

It said the Ministries of Education, Foreign Affairs and Health are coordinating the testing arrangements with the assistance from the World Health Organization.

The statement highlighted that the Government has acknowledged that these challenging and unprecedented times that requires Cabinet to make tough decisions for the betterment of our country.

“The decision to repatriate our citizens from China was taken after a thorough analysis of risks and benefits. Cabinet is convinced that if our testing protocol is followed with pre-departure testing and post arrival quarantine and testing, we will prevent the introducing Covid-19 into the country. The Cabinet believes that we can continue to conduct important business in the country and still keep COVID-19 out of our beloved country,” it said.

The statement clarified that the same treatment is given to all our bilateral and multilateral partners who are needed in the country to ensure our national projects are progressing.

“China does not get preferential treatment as people might like to think,” it said.

The statement adds other flights to repatriate citizens currently stranded in New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, USA and other European countries, as well as to bring in key foreign personnel for our development partner missions that help finance major development projects in the country are also in the planning process.

The same arrangement will be done for engineers for TINA Hydro project or the International Airport and the Kukum Highway projects.

“There are no exceptions to our pre-departure requirements as well as our post arrival quarantine and testing protocols,” the statement clarified.

Source: OPMC Media