New COVID-19 ‘Conveyance’ case recoded in a foreign vessel

A new COVID-19 case was detected onboard a cargo vessel MV Chefoo over the weekend.

The vessel left Lae, in Papua to Honiara on the 15th of April and arrived in Honiara on the 17th of April.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare announced during his national address today.

He said the case was detected following a comprehensive risk assessment undertaken by the ‘Vessels’ Exemption Committee’ over the weekend.

“This individual was one of five new crew members that joined the vessel at Lae Port in PNG on 15th April 2021. It is notable that all 5 new crew members that joined the vessel at Lae, tested negative for COVID-19 at Lae on 12th April 2021, 3 days before boarding the vessel.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sogavare explained, while this new case was diagnosed in our Molecular laboratory, it will not be registered as a Solomon Islands case.

He said this case will come under ‘Conveyance’ and registered under the name of the Vessel.

The Exemption Committee advised the Agent of the Vessel that all the five new crew members that joined the vessel in Lae had to be re-tested to ensure they are still negative before the vessel can be cleared.

PNG is currently experiencing high community transmission of COVID-19 with a total of more than nine thousand cases this week, 846 recoveries, and 89 deaths.