Gap shortened Solomon riots
New Zealand announces measures to keep out variant
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand will shorten the gap between second COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters and push back the phased reopening of its borders in measures announced this week to keep the Omicron variant at bay.
COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkin told reporters the government has agreed to a “suite of precautionary measures” in light of the threat posed by the Omicron strain of the coronavirus.
The gap between a second vaccine dose and a booster will be shortened from six to four months, meaning 82 per cent of vaccinated New Zealanders will be due for a booster by
February. New Zealand’s strict border regulations so far have been successful in keeping Omicron from spreading in the community. The only cases reported so far have been in travellers who are in managed isolation and quarantine.
“Public health advice
Mona Lisa (left) and Tau Apihai perform along the roadside to encourage people to get vaccinated on Tuesday in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand will shorten the gap between second COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters and push back the phased reopening of its borders in measures announced on Tuesday to keep the Omicron variant at bay. suggests that soon every case coming into our border, into our managed isolation facilities, will be the omicron variant,” Mr Hipkins said.
“We already know that booster vaccinations significantly lift an individual’s immunity, reducing the spread and the severity of COVID-19.”
Plans to allow travelers from Australia to selfisolate from January 17, rather than go through managed isolation, have been pushed back to the end of February.
Mr Hipkins said with Australia’s New South Wales state “now expecting to record 25,000 cases a day by the end of January, opening the border in mid-January as planned simply presents too high a risk at this point”.
SYDNEY – China will send police officers to the Solomon Islands to help train its police force, the Pacific island nation said on Thursday, after rioting last month sparked by the country’s 2019 switch of diplomatic relations to Beijing from Taiwan. The unrest, in which dozens of buildings were burnt down, arose after the decision by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to launch relations with China fuelled a dispute between the national government and the most populous province, Malaita. Other domestic issues also stirred the discontent.