The Minister of Health, Bruno Leingkone announced that Vanuatu will ease most of its pandemic restrictions from today.
He confirmed that the Council of Ministers has agreed that Torba, Penama, Malampa and Tafea provinces move from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 1.
The four provinces have no cases of Covid-19 since the outbreak in Capital Port Vila and Luganville in March.
Leingkone also said Efate and Sanma provinces remain at Alert Level 3 with new curfew hours from 6am to 8pm starting tomorrow.
He said the government is reviewing current Covid-19 restriction measures with a view to relax them to ensure economic turnover whilst maintaining minimum Covid-19 protocols.
Leingkone announced the changes today saying Covid-19 is here to stay and we must learn to live with it just like any other disease.
He also acknowledged donor partners, private sector for the continuous support and partnership with the government since the start of the global pandemic.
“We now have community transmission and it is important that each citizen must step up and take responsibility and ownership of our own actions, decisions and well-being,” Leingkone said.
“We as responsible people must obey the laws that are made to protect us.
The laws and protocols which the government continues to encourage us to follow are made for our own protection. It is only when we disobey and break them that we put ourselves, our family and our whole country at risk,” he added.
Cases have increased since the beginning of 2022 with a total of 4915 confirmed cases recorded.
According to the Vanuatu Covid-19 situation report released on Wednesday 6 April, in the 24-hour period Vanuatu recorded 130 new confirmed cases, including 124 on Efate Island (Shefa province) and 6 on Santo Island (Sanma province).
Photo supplied Caption: Health Minister Bruno Leingkone during the Covid-19 update report today.