Chairman of the National Disaster Council (NDC) Dr Melchior Mataki says he has confidence in the system in place at the quarantine facilities.
Mataki told local journalists that there is zero tolerance for those officers that breach camp management rules. He says they have already laid off some officers who have breached the rules.
“The camp management is chaired by the Under Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs. He provides the oversight in terms of operations in camp management. He has powers to make decisions on the spot. We want to ensure that decision making is where the action is”, Mataki says.
The National Disaster Council (NDC) arrangement is the country’s whole of Government response in the coordination of COVID-19, which is done through the National and Provincial Disaster Operations Committees (N-DOC and P-DOC).
The N-DOC Sectors and P-DOC remain the country’s preparedness and response coordination mechanism for the pandemic.
The N-DOC and P-DOC through its Sector Committees on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plans contribute to the health, social and economic security of the country - which minimise the risk of COVID-19 entering the country.
Mataki says he has seen how the mechanism works and he is confident with the system in place.
“The process to ensure vigilance in terms of the SOPs are in place and I’ve seen it in action as well so I’m comfortable and confident that the process is working”, Mataki says.
The Government through the Camp Managements Sector Committee is managing eleven (11) Quarantine Stations (QS).
Five QS are classified as Diplomatic QSs’ hosted within the residences of the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), the Australian High Commission, New Zealand High Commission and the British
High Commission, respectively.
Currently there are 112 occupants in the Quarantine Stations. 97 are Solomon Islands nationals while 15 are of foreign nationalities.