UNAPPROVED ENTRY OF 4 CITIZENS TO SOLOMON ISLANDS ON 20 AUGUST

QUESTIONS have been posed to the Press Office of the Office of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet late Friday 20 August 2021] alleging that a passenger flight arrived the previous
day [Thursday 19 August 2021] and asked why the government went back on its words
to allow the passenger flight.

There was no approved incoming passenger flight to the country on Thursday as
alleged. The government approved a chartered repatriation flight that arrived on Friday
morning, 20 th August 2021], from Papua New Guinea to repatriate 63 Indonesian
nationals from Solomon Islands to Indonesia via Port Moresby.

Unfortunately, 4 Solomon Island citizens being the dependents of the late Solomon
Islands High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, who had been stranded in Port
Moresby and were not able to travel on the charter flight that repatriated the late High
Commissioner due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, decided on their own accord and
against government advise to board the Friday morning flight.

A total of 5 citizens were going to travel, the fifth being our Acting High Commissioner to
Papua New Guinea who has been ill. All five were told they could not travel because
they had not complied with the pre-departure testing requirements for Solomon Islands
as well as the fact that PNG had also registered cases of the delta variant.
However, four of the five citizens decided to ignore the advice given to them and were
allowed to board the flight despite advice to the family and to the airline they cannot
board the flight.

They were also advised if they returned without approval that will constitute a breach
and an offence against the SOPE regulations, which is what had protected Solomon
Islands so far from COVID-19. They also disregarded that advice and boarded the
aircraft.

Having arrived in the country we had the option of sending them back to a foreign
country or allow them to disembark under secure quarantine conditions after which they will have to face the consequences for the various breaches they have committed. We allowed them to disembark
This family had suffered in a foreign country, after losing their husband and father and
not being able to return home with him and to see him laid to eternal rest.

 They have committed several offences in boarding the flight. These will be addressed in due course.

We can assure the country that we will take every care to ensure the family does not
transmit COVID-19 into the community. They tested negative for COVID-19 twice on
Monday and Thursday this week in Port Moresby. They have tested negative on arrival
yesterday. These are not enough because they only cover a period of 5 days, and we
will ensure more tests are done in the coming days.

In the unlikely event that any of them test positive in the coming 21 days when they are
in quarantine, our plan is that same as it had always been for each of the previous 20
positive cases of COVID-19 we have diagnosed in this country, and that is to contain
and eliminate the virus at the quarantine station. Please be assured of our capability to
do that, just as we have done in the previous 20 positive cases.

The government had not gone back on its word. There was no approved incoming
passenger flight into the country on Thursday as alleged or yesterday. There was only
an approved, outbound repatriation flight yesterday, on Friday 20 August 2021.
That position will remain in force until the government lifts the suspension of incoming
passenger flights.

What we had was a case where 4 citizens entered the country on their own accord
without approval and in contravention of the pre-departure requirements in our
Regulation for which they will have to answer after they serve their mandatory 21-day
quarantine period.

OPMC Press Release