The Solomon Islands government has banned all its public servants from overseas travel. This decision was made by Cabinet in light of the global outbreak of the COVID-19 (corona virus).
Health Minister, Dickson Mua confirmed that public officers are banned from traveling overseas indefinitely.
He also confirmed Solomon Airlines direct flights from Brisbane to Munda have been suspended.
It is also understood that talks are still underway in cabinet whether Solomon Islands should suspend all international flights to Honiara.
These measures were put in place after World Health Organization (WHO) declared the global COVID-19 (Corona virus) outbreak as pandemic.
On Wednesday, WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said "We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic”.
The WHO Director General said all countries can still change the course of this pandemic if countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response.
In light of this announcement, Cabinet met and passed the new set of restrictions for Solomon Islands.
Previously public servants were not allowed to travel to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or restricted countries.
With this new restriction, public servants are further disallowed from traveling at all.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services is calling on the general public not to spread false news on the COVID-19.
In a statement the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Ms. Pauline McNeil said accurate and correct information must be sought from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.
She said this is to avoid unnecessary and misleading information. She also confirmed that there was no confirmed case of the COVID-19 in Solomon Islands as yet.
An economical outlook of the impact on the COVID-19 in Solomon Islands will be made known soon by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI).